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THE 


FIRST    RESURRECTION 


CONSIDERED 


BtvitH  ot  %ttttv^: 


OCCASIONED  BY  A  TREATISE  OF  THE  LATE 
REV.  H.  GIPPS,  LL.B. 


JOSEPH  D'ARCY^SIRR,  A.M.  M.R.I.A. 

RECTOR  OF  KILCOLEMAN. 


PHILADELPHIA! 
ORRIN  ROGERS,  67  SOUTH  SECOND  STREET. 

E.  G.  Dorsey,  PrinteTi 

1841. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  following  pages  were  penned  at  the  request  of  the  Rev.  James 
Anderson,  Rector  of  Moore  and  Drum,  in  the  Diocese  of  Tuam,  who 
put  Mr.  Gipps'  book,  unexpectedly,  into  the  hands  of  the  author. — As 
the  examination  was  undertaken,  in  obedience  to  the  wishes  of  a  private 
friend,  and  commenced  without  any  view  to  pubhcation,  (he  work  itself 
is  not  shaped  as  it  would  have  been,  under  other  circumstances.  Much 
of  the  practical  bearing  of  the  subject  has  been  omitted — the  reader  is 
requested  to  make  up  the  deficiency,  by  bringing  every  page  at  once  to 
the  test  of  God's  revealed  word,  and  to  the  throne  of  grace.  The  mat- 
ters discussed,  are  of  infinite  moment;  affect  in  the  deepest  manner  our 
respective  relations  to  time  and  eternity ;  and  can  only  subserve  any 
salutary  end  when  our  inquiries  into  them  are  conducted  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  in  reverent  submission  to  his  authority. 
— Oh !  that  there  were  one  unanimous  cry  to  arise,  from  every  section 
of  the  visible  Church,  for  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  on  the  whole. — 
Till  this  event  arrive,  we  shall  be  torn  with  dissensions — led  astray  by 
every  error  that  arises — and  polluted  with  evils. — It  becomes  us  now 
with  an  irrepressible  energy,  with  entreaties  that  admit  of  no  denial,  to 
cry  mightily  to  the  Lord  to  restore  his  comforts  unto  us,  and  revisit 
his  vine— for— The  Lord  is  nigh,  even  at  the  doors,  to  take  account  of 
his  servants. 


CONTENTS. 


LETTER  I. 

Author's  respect  for  Mr.  Gipps. — The  Second  Advent  not 
more  discoursed  of  in  the  New  Testament  than  in  the  Old. 
— Difference  of  opinion  on  tiie  subject  does  not  depend  on  the 
Interpretation  of  Rev.  xx.  4,  5. — The  Second  Coming  of 
Christ  is  foretold  in  the  previous  part  of  the  book. — Dani^er 
of  Interpreting^  words,  not  according  to  the  context,  bvit 
according  to  their  use  in  other  places,  when  applied  to  other 
subjects.— Ten  points. — Eight  considerations  examined. — 
Argument  from  authority  rebutted,        -       _        _        .        _         5—35 

LETTER  IL 

Parables. — Wheat  and  Tares. — Criticism  on  the  expression 
Kingdom  of  Heaven,  illustrated  by  grain  of  mustard  seed. 
— Confounding  the  judgment  on  the  wicked  quick,  and  on 
the  wicked  dead,  cause  of  error. — Harvest  and  Vintage,  Joel 
ii.  3, 1 1  .—The  Draw  Net.— The  Marriage  Supper.— Talents. 
— Judgment,  illustrated  by  reference  to  Dan.  vii.  13. — The 
■wovAs  Nations. — Saints  exYA^dncA. —  Goats  and  Sheep,  Ezek. 
xxxiv.  10,  31.    Mic.  iv.  6,  8, 36—57 

LETTER  IlL 

The  Transfiguration.— The  Coming-One.— 2  Pet.  i.  16.— 
Prophecyof  the  Judgment,  Matt.  xxiv. — Parable  of  the  Fig- 
tree  and  all  the  trees,  Luke  xxi. — The  Gospel  Kingdom. — 
Figurative  Comings. — The  Last  Day. — Christ's  voice  heard 
in  the  grave. — The  Judgment-seat  of  Christ.— Retribution 
of  enemies,        -- 58—84 

LETTER  IV. 

The  Kingdom.— Matt.  xiii.  41;  xvi.  28.— Luke  i.  33;  xxii.  30.— 
John  xviii.  36.— Eph.  v.  5.— Col.  i.  13.— 2  Tim.  iv.  18.— Heb.  i. 
8.-2  Pet.  i.  11,  The  delivering  up  of  the  Kingdom. — 1  Cor. 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


XV.  23— 26.— David ic  rule  over  Enemies.— The  Tabernacle 
state  of  the  New  Heavens  and  New  Earth.— Psalms  ex. 
xlvii.— First  Fruits.— The  End.— 2  Tim.  iv.  1.       -       -       -      84—116 

LETTER  V. 

Literal  and  Figurative  interpretation  discussed. — Symbols. — 
Psa.  xi.  6— 8.— The  Branch  and  Root  of  Jesse.— Isa.  Iv.  12, 
13. — Resurrection  of  Souls. — Mr.  Gipps'  Rules  of  Literal 
and  Figurative  Interpretation  examined. — First  Resurrec- 
tion as  connected  with  the  Statements  in  Zech.  xiv.  1 — 11. 
—Luke  XX.  34— 36.— Acts  iv.  1,  2.-1  Cor.  xv.    Phil.  iii.  11.        117—149 

APPENDIX. 

Letter  to  His  Grace  the  Hon.  and  Most  Rev.  the  Lord  Arch- 
bishop of  Tuam,  &c.  &c.  -        - 151—159 

Notes, 160 


.^' 


THE 


FIRST  RESURRECTION. 


LETTER  I. 

Author's  respect  for  Mr.  Gipps. — The  Second  Advent  not  more  discoursed  of 
in  the  New  Testament  than  in  the  Old. — Difference  of  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject does  not  depend  on  the  Interpretation  of  Rev.  xx.  4,  5. — The  Second 
Coming  of  Christ  is  foretold  in  the  previous  part  of  the  book. — Danger  of 
Interpreting  words,  not  according  to  the  context,  but  according  to  their  use 
in  other  places,  when  applied  to  other  subjects. — Ten  points. — Eight  con- 
siderations examined. — Argument  from  authority  rebutted. 

UikMay,  1833: 
Mr  DEAR  Friend, 

I  have  complied  with  your  request,  and  perused  Mr,  Gipps' 
treatise  on  the  First  Resurrection  with  the  most  diligent  atten- 
tion. The  excellent  spirit,  which  pervades  it,  is  just  what  I 
should  have  expected  from  a  man  of  the  deep  piety,  which  I 
believe  the  author  to  have  possessed.  I  remember  still,  with 
great  pleasure,  the  sweet  savour  of  his  preaching  on  one  occa- 
sion at  St.  John's,  Chichester,  some  years  ago,  where  I  had  the 
privilege  of  hearing  him.  His  mode  of  treating  the  subject 
also,  is  what  it  ought  have  been,  an  appeal  to  the  written  word. 
In  obedience  to  your  request,  I  will  just  glance  at  the  princi- 
pal topics,  with  as  much  regard  to  your  desire  for  brevity  as 
possible,  and  with  all  the  respect,  wiiich  is  due  to  the  memory 
of  so  devoted  a  minister  of  the  word. 

I.  The  notion  with  which  he  set  out,  of  finding  a  priori  more 
of  the  Second  Advent  in  the  New  Testament  than  in  the  Old, 
js  one  which  cannot  be  granted  and  is  quite  unfounded.  One, 
who  comes  to  the  perusal  of  any  part  of  the  Bible  with  a  pre- 
conceived conviction  of  what  he  must,  or  must  not  find  there, 
is  sure  to  err.  In  point  of  fac'r,  the  New  Testament  contains 
vastly  more  oi  the  Jirst  Advent,  than  we  meet  with  about  it  in 
the  Old.  It  is  actually  a  history  of  all  that  related  to  that  ad- 
vent, with  lengthened  proofs  that  he  who  has  come  is  the  Mes- 
25 


(j  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

siah,  though  he  has  not  yet  fulfilled  all  that  was  predictetl  con- 
cerning him;  and  hortatory  declarations  of  duty,  involved  in, 
and  arising  out  of  the  fact,  that  the  Virgin-born  deliverer  has 
appeared.  These  declarations  necessarily  connect  themselves 
with  the  completion  of  the  deliverance,  to  be  effected  at  the 
period  of  the  second  advent,  respecting  which,  therefore,  we 
meet  with  abundant  intimations  for  the  encouragement  of  the 
faithful.  But  these  notices  of  the  coming  one,  (o  s/i;^s/^£voc)  are, 
in  general,  assumptions  rather  than  descriptions  of  the  fact, 
that  he  will  return  as  the  destined  conqueror  and  king.  They 
suppose  the  previously  revealed  matter  as  certain;  and  rather 
enforce  the  moral  obligations  connected  with  his  Epiphany  to 
come,  than  detail  its  results.  These,  on  the  contrary,  are  to 
•  be  met  with,  at  great  length,  in  the  Prophets,  and  therefore 
are  we  directed  to  them  for  illumination  in  all  that  relates  to 
the  Presence  (n^tpovc-nt)  and  Majesty  (M6j-aA£»T»<:)  of  Jesus.  2 
Pet.  i.  16. 

2.  The  assertion,  that  "all  the  difference  of  opinion  upon  the 
subject  originates  from  the  interpretation  of  a  passage  in  the 
New  Testament,"  viz.  Rev.  xx,  4,  5,  is  a  decided  mistake. 
Blot  that  passage  out  of  the  Book  of  Revelation,  and  still  the 
reign  of  Jesus  with  the  saints  will  stand  forth  as  a  revealed 
truth,  both  in  that  book  from  which  it  is  thus  blotted  out,  and 
in  almost  every  book  of  the  Bible,  either  in  the  way  of  type, 
or  of  prediction,  or  of  exhortation.  Yet  is  it  on  the  assump- 
tion of  this  error,  that  the  whole  work  is  penned.  Had  it  in- 
deed been  stated,  that  from  this  passage  alone  we  obtain  any 
information  of  the  length  of  time  that  Satan  is  to  be  bound; 
and  that  it  is  from  the  thoiisayid  years,  to  which  his  bondage  is 
here  limited,  the  name  of  Millenarians  came  to  be  attached  to 
those,  who  believe  in  the  personal  reign  of  Christ  and  his 
saints,  his  observation  had  been  correct.  The  thousand  years 
are  not  the  limit  of  their  reign,  though  they  are  the  limit  of  Sa- 
tan's captivity.  Nor  is  it  from  this  place  we  derive  the  proof, 
that  the  "Lord  my  God  shall  come,  and  all  his  saints  with 
him,"  to  reign  on  earth  reclaimed  to  his  authority,  rescued 
from  the  usurper's  grasp,  and  made  new.  But  having  from 
sundry  passages  of  the  livel}^  oracles,  that  have  been  commit- 
ted to  us,  learned  that  such  is  the  divine  purpose,  we  affirm 
that  this  particular  prediction  must  refer  to  the  time,  when 
they,  who  are  the  children  of  the  resurrection,  shall  accom- 
pany the  Messiah  on  his  return,  as  joint  heirs  with  him,  to 
claim  the  Heathen  for  his  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth  for  his  possession,  as  the  rightful  Heir  of  the  world, 
as  Abraham's  seed,  as  Jesse's  root,  and  as  David's  son  and  suc- 
cessor on  Israel's  throne,  in  whom  and  to  whom,  the  kingdom 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  7 

is  established  for  the  ages.  He  that  overcometh  shall  have  power 
over  the  nations,  and  rule  them  with  a  rod  of  iron,  shivering 
them  to  pieces,  as  a  potter's  vessel,  Rev.  ii.  26,  27;  shall  sit 
with  Christ  on  his  own  throne,  Rev.  iii.  21;  and  shall  inherit 
all  things.  Rev.  xxi.  7.  The  burden  of  the  ransomed  song 
is,  zve  shall  reig?t  on  the  earth,  and  when  therefore  on  the  ejection 
of  Satan,  John  beholds  thrones  occupied,  and  the  sitters  thereon 
united  with  the  martyrs,  who  are  represented  as  reigning  con- 
currently with  them;  and  when  we  find  him  further  affirming 
concerning  this  event,  which  in  symbolic  show  passes  before 
his  view,  this  is  the  first  resurrection,  we  cannot  entertain  a  doubt, 
that  he  saw  in  prospect  that  glorious  consummation,  for  which 
the  disem.bodied  just  express  such  devout  and  confident  desire. 
3.  The  assertion,  that  ''the  Second  coming  of  Christ  has  not 
been  described,  as  he  conceived,  in  the  previous  part  of  the 
book"  of  Revelation,  is  an  error  the  very  reverse  of  that  on 
which  I  first  remarked.  What!  is  the  second  coming  of  Christ 
not  noticed  up  to  the  very  close  of  a  book,  which  is  entitled 
THE  REVELATION  of  Jesus  Christ,  aookaat^ts  i.^.^  x^;^^ot/? 
Not  noticed  chap.  i.  7. — Behold  he  cometh  icith  clouds;  and  every 
eye  shall  see  him,  afid  they  also,  tohich  pierced  him;  and  all  kifi- 
dreds  of  the  earth  shall  zvail  because  of  him;  even  so,  Amen?  Not 
noticed  in  the  Epistles  to  the  Seven  Churches,  throughout 
which  the  warning  else  I  will  come  unto  thee  quickly,  is  so  oft 
repeated,  in  connexion  with  the  reward  to  be  bestowed  on  the 
conquerors,  and  the  rule  over  the  nations,  and  the  impress  of 
the  New  Jerusalem  name,  and  the  admission  to  the  supper,  and 
the  elevation  to  the  throne?  Not  noticed  under  the  Sixth  Seal, 
where,  with  despairing  agony,  the  apostate  confederates  roar 
out  their  deep  distress  to  the  mountains  and  the  rocks  to  shel- 
ter themyVom  the  face  of  Him  that  sitteth  07i  the  thro?ie,  and  from 
the  wrath  of  the  Lamb; — chap.  vi.  12,  17?  Not  noticed,  where 
the  two  sealed  companies  of  Israel  and  of  the  nations,  washed 
in  white  robes,  are  descried  in  the  act  of  following  the  Lamb, 
who  dwelleth  in  the  midst  of  them,  feedeth  them,  leadeth  them 
to  living  fountains  of  waters,  and  wipeth  away  all  their  tears; — 
chap.  vii.  14,  17?  Not  noticed,  zvhen  the  seventh  angel  sounded, 
and  there  were  great  voices  in  heaven,  saying, — the  zoorldly  king- 
dom of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ  is  come,*  and  he  shall  reign  for 
the  ages  of  the  ages;  when  the  elders  praise  Almighty  God,  say- 
ing— thou  hast  taken  to  thee  thy  great  pozi'er,  aiid  hast  reigned. 
Rev.  xi.  15,  19?  Not  noticed,  when  a  loud  voice  announced 
the  fact  in  heaven,  nozo  is  come  salvation  and  strength,  and  the 
kingdom  of  our  God,  and  the  power  of  his  Christ;  for  the  accuser 
of  our  brethren  is  cast  down,  which  accused  them  before  our  God 
*  So  Griesbach  correctly  reads  the  text. 


g  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

day  and  7iight.  Rev.  xii.  10?  Not  noticed,  when  the  Son  of 
Man  is  actually  described  as  crowned  and  seated  on  a  white 
cloud,  reaping  the  harvest  and  treading  the  vintage  of  the  earth. 
Rev.  xiv.  14,  20?  Not  noticed,  when  the  thundered  Hallel  is 
uttered — Allelujah!  for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth, — Let 
us  be  glad  and  rejoice  a?id  give  honour  to  him,  for  the  marriage  of 
the  Lamb  is  come,  and  his  wife  hath  made  herself  ready,  when  he 
goeth  forth  on  the  white  horse,  followed  by  the  armies  of  hea- 
ven, to  smite  the  nations,  rule  them  zcith  the  rod  of  iron  and  tread 
the  voinepress  of  the  fierceness  of  the  rirath  of  Almighty  God.  Rev. 
xix.  1,  21?  If  so,  then  is  the  coming  of  Christ  not  noticed  in 
any  part  of  the  book,  nor  is  the  resurrection.  Not  a  word  of 
either  is  mentioned.  Rev.  xx.  11.  The  whole  book  is  either 
introductory  to,  or  descriptive  of  his  Apocalypse.  The  falla- 
cy, h.owever,  has  been  attempted  to  be  justified  by  an  argu- 
ment which  applies  particularly  to  the  last  passage  I  have  re- 
ferred to.  It  is  thus  put: — The  description  in  ch.  xix.  11,  21, 
cannot,  I  conceive,  be  understood  of  Christ's  second  coming  in 
person,  because  he  is  there  described  as  ''riding  upon  a  white 
horse,  clothed  in  a  vesture  dipped  in  blood;  having  a  sword 
going  out  of  his  mouth;  and  having  a  name  written  upon  his 
thigh!"  Now  nothing  of  this  kind  was  the  case  when  he  as- 
cended; and  consequently  nothing  of  the  kind  will  be  the  case 
when  he  comes  in  person  a  second  time,  for  it  is  expressly  de- 
clared, Acts  i.  11:  "Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  gazing 
into  heaven?  This  same  Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  from  you 
into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner,  as  ye  have  seen  him 
go  into  heaven."  It  might,  perhaps,  be  sufficient  to  say  that 
the  silence  of  the  divine  historians  concerning  the  minute  ac- 
companiments of  the  ascension,  affords  no  warrant  for  the  hasty 
assertion,  that  nothing  of  the  kind  took  place  then.  The  record 
of  the  fact  does  not  negative  the  occurrence  of  such  circum- 
stances at  that  juncture.  We  may  presume  what  we  please, 
but  we  have  no  right  to  argue  from  thence  as  if  our  presump- 
tion was  a  certainty.  I  take  it  to  be  highly  probable  that  the 
conjecture  is  correct,  and  that  Christ  was  not  then  mounted 
on  a  white  horse,  had  no  name  written  on  his  thigh,  no  rai- 
ment stained  in  blood  wrapped  around  him,  and  no  sword  pro- 
ceeding out  of  his  mouth,  but  what  docs  this  prove?  Nothing. 
Equally  dissimilar  with  this  negative  description  of  his  ascent, 
is  the  asserted,  but  unproved,  description  of  his  coming.  Rev. 
XX.  11,  12.  When  he  ascended,  sat  he  upon  a  white  throne, 
stood  there  before  him  the  dead,  small  and  great,  and  were 
there  opened  before  him  then  the  books  of  life  and  of  death? 
The  manner  (i  t/ic^tj?,)  by  which  he  went  and  by  which  he  shall 
return,  relates  not  to  the  mere  adventitious  or  collateral  cir- 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  9 

cumstances,  which  attended  his  departure,  or  which  shall  mark 
his  return;  but  denotes  either  the  literal  path  by  which  he  tra- 
versed the  heaven,  (oupxvo;,)  the  clouds  by  which  he  was  obscured 
and  from  which  he  shall  emerge;  or  the  speed,  unexpectedness, 
glory,  and  superiority  to  the  laws  of  matter,  which  distinguished 
his  ascent.  But  the  argument  he  made  use  of,  p.  98,  overturns 
the  reasoning  of  Mr.  Gipps,  in  this  place  entirely.  The  omis- 
sion in  some  prophecies  of  an  incident,  (such  as  that  noticed 
Zech.  ix.  9.)  connected  with  some  future  event,  which  is,  never- 
theless, foretold  in  some  other  prophecy,  regarding  the  same 
event,  by  no  means  justifies  the  idea,  that  such  predictions  do 
not  relate  to  one  and  the  same  event,  or  that  such  incidents 
shall  not  mark  its  occuri'ence.  The  prediction  in  Acts  i.  11, 
makes  no  mention  of  the  myriads  of  his  holy  ones,  by  whom 
he  shall  be  attended,  when  he  returns;  yet  by  those  myriads 
shall  he  be  surrounded.  Two  angels  stood  by  the  side  of  his 
disconsolate  disciples,  after  his  departure  from  them;  but  not 
one  is  said  to  have  visibly  hovered  about  his  person,  as  his  as- 
cent was  effected.  He  shall  be  accompanied  by  them  on  his 
return,  all  joyous  as  the  ministering  attendants  on  his  glory; 
but  when  he  ascended  he  left  them  behind  him  sorrowing. 
But  let  men  argue  as  they  may,  the  description  in  Rev.  xix.  of 
the  Word  of  God  may  be  shewn,  by  many  undeniable  proofs, 
to  be  indeed  the  literal  description  of  him  at  his  second  advent. 
First,  that  description  is  introduced  as  already  noticed  by  the 
deafening  acclamations  of  the  countless  multitude,  who  make 
the  heaven  ring  because  the  Omnipotent  reigneth.  Secondly, 
their  joy  knows  no  bounds  because  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb 
is  come.  Can  there  be  a  doubt  that  that  marriage  will  be  so- 
lemnized, I  appeal  to  Mr.  Gipps'  own  statement,  (see  p.  32,) 
at  the  second  advent  of  Messiah.  Is  not  the  Bride  represented, 
as  having  made  herself  ready?  But  it  is  also  in  this  aspect  she 
is  presented  before  us,  as  adorned  for  her  husband,  under  the 
symbol  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God  out  of 
heaven,  (Rev.  xxi.  2,)  which  relates,  according  to  Mr.  Gipps, 
to  the  heavenly  state.  Thirdly,  as  the  going  forth  of  Messiah 
is  to  smite  the  nations  and  trample  them  in  fury,  so  it  issues  in 
the  supper  of  slaughtered  carcasses  provided  for  the  fowls  of 
heaven,  and  the  consignment  of  the  beast,  (d>:piov)  and  the  false 
prophet,  and  their  respective  votaries  to  the  lake  of  fire.  If 
there  be  any  one  thing,  plainly  revealed,  it  is  this,  that  the  Man 
of  Sin  will  be  destroyed  by  the  brightness  of  the  Redeemer's 
coming;  and  I  believe  there  can  be  none  found  to  assert  that 
any  of  the  ungodly,  or  still  more,  that  all  the  living  worship- 
pers of  the  beast,  with  the  beast  himself  and  his  confederate 
prophet,  the  antitypical  Balak  and  Balaam,  shall  be  cast  into 
VOL.  III. — 26 


2Q  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

the  lake  of  fire,  before  the  second  coming  of  Jesus.  I  cannot 
but  express  my  regret,  that  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Gipps  should 
have  allowed  himself  to  sanction  the  evil  practice  of  many, 
who  stand  in  no  awe  of  God's  word,  by  speaking  of  the  ab- 
surdity, which  this  view  involves.  It  is  a  mode  of  reasoning 
to  which  we  should  never  have  recourse,  where  the  word  of 
God  is  concerned.  What  our  purblind  reason  may  deem  ab- 
surd enough,  divine  Wisdom  may  regard  in  all  the  clearness  of 
assured  fact,  or  positive  demonstration.  Were  it  a  legitimate 
method  of  argument,  the  Jews  might,  with  effect,  have  reasoned 
on  the  absurdity  of  a  Virgin  producing  a  son,  or  of  the  king 
Messiah  riding  on  an  ass  and  its  colt.  But  while  he  reasoned 
on  the  absurdity  of  "any  worm  of  the  earth,  any  sinful  child 
of  man,"  being  able  to  make  war  against  Christ  in  person,  and 
therefore  judged  the  whole  prophecy  to  be  figurative,  he  over- 
looked the  fact  that  no  such  power  was  claimed  by,  no  such 
design  attributed  to  these  congregated  battalia  of  ungodly  men. 
Rev.  xix.  19,  is  not  expressive  of  the  purpose  entertained  by 
the  antagonists  of  Jesus,  but  of  the  fact  that  John  saw  them  in 
vision  gathered  together  {Troiyto-M  mxifxov)  to  make  battle  against  the 
warrior  horseman — [?roin<ra.t  may  be  taken  either  transitively  or 
intransitively).  Now  if  we  look  back  to  Rev.  xvi.  14,  we  shall 
find  that  they  are  actually  gathered  together  to  this  battle  by 
the  seducing  agency  of  demons,  unclean  and  frog-like  spirits, 
even  as  was  Ahab  led  up,  by  a  lying  spirit  in  the  mouth  of  all 
his  prophets,  to  that  fatal  field  where  closed  alike  his  ignomi- 
nious life  and  reign.  To  oppose  their  might  to  that  of  the  Om- 
nipotent they  could  entertain  no  idea;  of  the  result  they  could 
have  no  conception. — The  issue  is  hidden  from  their  eyes. 
They  are  led  up  ignorantly  to  Armageddon,  without  the  most 
distant  conception  of  the  collision,  which  must  ensue.  They 
go  not  forth  intentionally  against  the  Messiah;  they  set  him 
at  nought  and  discredit  his  very  being,  for  they  are  the  wor- 
shippers of  the  Anti-Messiah,  who  is  their  leader.  The  ab- 
sence of  any  such  intention  on  their  part  is  quite  clear  from  the 
statement,  that  they  were  acting  under  delusion:  "the  beast 
was  taken,  and  with  him  the  false  propiiet  that  wrought  miracles 
before  him,  with  which  he  deceived  them  that  had  the  mark  of 
the  beast."  Rev.  xix.  20.  Again  the  Devil  is  imprisoned  "that 
he  should  deceive  the  nations  no  more  till  the  thousand  years 
should  be  fulfilled,"  Rev.  xx.  3.  But  being  thus  assembled, 
Messiah  straight  proceeds  against  them  to  battle,  followed  by 
the  armies  of  heaven,  to  assert  his  own  title  to  worship  and  to 
empire,  and  bestows  their  carcasses  on  the  birds  of  prey,  while 
he  casts  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet  alive  into  the  lake  of 
fire  burning  with  brimstone.   Compare  the  statement  itself  with 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  H 

other  prophecies,  and  you  will  find,  that  what  the  deluded  con- 
federates meditate  is  to  make  war  against  Israel.  Dan.  xi.  44, 
utterly  to  make  aicaij  many,  or  rather,  to  devote  many  to  destruction 
under  the  pretext  of  religion.  But  Michael  unexpectedly  stands 
up  for  the  children  of  his  people,  Dan.  xii.  1.  Compare  par- 
ticularly Zech.  xiv.  1,  5.  In  verse  2  of  this  last  passage,  and  in 
Rev.  xvi.  16,  the  gathering  of  the  nations,  which  is  indeed  ef- 
fected in  his  providence,  is  attributed  to  Jehovah.  It  is  against 
Jerusalem  they  direct  the  efforts  of  their  hostility,  and  while 
engaged  in  war  against  the  people  of  God,  the  Lord  my  God  and 
all  his  saints  come  to  their  utter  discomfiture.  He,  who  touches 
Israel  touches  the  apple  of  his  eye;  and  thus,  therefore,  in  one 
sense  do  they  make  actual  war  against  him.  The  issue  is  simi- 
larly described  Isa.  Ixvi.  15,  24.  The  whole  absurdity  was  in 
Mr.  Gipps'  own  mind  from  not  comparing  the  predictions,  which 
relate  to  this  crisis,  and  from  not  understanding  the  sense  ac- 
cordingly, in  which  they  made  war  against  the  Word  of  God 
and  his  army. 

4.  Suffer  me  to  point  out  the  danger  of  the  following  mode 
of  reasoning.  "The  ideas,  which  occur  in  ver.  4,  such  as  *'I 
saw  the  souls  of  them  which  were  beheaded  for  the  testimony 
of  Jesus — living — reigning — with  Christ — priests — dead;"  oc- 
cur also,  as  I  shall  endeavour  hereafter  to  shew  in  other  pas- 
sages of  Scripture,  in  reference  to  the  saints  in  this  life,  he  can- 
not therefore  conclude  from  the  mere  use  of  these  expressions, 
that  the  resurrection  here  spoken  of  must  necessarily  be  that  of 
the  saints  in  their  glorified  bodies;  and  that  their  living  and 
reigning  with  Christ  must  ?iecessarily  he  the  living  and  reigning 
of  the  saints  in  glory,  with  Christ  personally  present  with 
them."  Words,  which  in  themselves  are  applicable  to  a  vast 
variety  of  objects,  can  never  necessarily  be  confined  in  their 
import  to  any  one  of  those  objects,  which  they  variously  repre- 
sent. Even  proper  names  cannot  thus  be  restricted.  Pro- 
nounce or  write  the  name  John,  and  it  will  not  in  itself,  neces- 
sarily denote  any  one  individual.  It  may  denote  the  Baptist 
or  John  of  Gaunt,  or  the  king  of  England  so  named.  Even  Je- 
sus may  signify  the  son  of  Nun,  or  the  son  of  Sirach,  or  the  son 
of  Mary.  The  sense  of  a  whole  passage  is  that,  which  can  alone 
determine  the  object,  which  any  word  is  designed  to  bring  be- 
fore our  mind.  This  indeed  is  afterwards  admitted,  but  still  a 
long  note  is  appended  to  prove  that  the  word  (ctv^srTaa-/;)  resur- 
rection is  used  to  signify  a  moral  change,  in  Luke  ii.  34. — and 
"a//  the  resurrection,  which  Christ  imparts  to  his  people,"  both 
that  of  the  soul  here,  and  of  the  body  hereafter,  in  John  xi. 
25,  as  if  some  mighty  mystery  were  contained  in  the  possible 
application  of  the  word  resurrection,  to  something  wholly  differ- 


12  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

ent  from  the  re-embodying  of  a  departed  spirit.  As  well 
might  some  thorough-going  Sceptic  employ  scripture  to  defend 
his  infidelity,  and  caution  us  against  the  doctrine  of  the  resur- 
rection, as  he  might  just  as  conclusively  do  by  calling  on  us  to 
remark  that  the  verb  {a.via-'n/ui.i)  to  rise  again,  from  which  the 
substantive  (amo-a-Ta£r«)  resurrectio?!,  takes  its  origin,  is  employed 
to  denote  the  act  of  standing  up  from  a  posture  of  repose,  and 
does  not  ?2ecessarily  imply  the  notion  of  resurrection,  as  under- 
stood by  the  orthodox.  He  might  appeal  too.  in  confirmation 
of  his  opinion,  to  such  scriptures  as  the  following; — "he  said 
unto  him,  follow  me,  and  he,  (Levi,)  arose  and  followed  him," 
Mark  ii.  14.  None  believed  that  this  Publican  was  raised  from 
the  dead.  "If  Satan  rise  up  against  himself  and  be  divided, 
he  cannot  stand,  but  hath  an  end,"  Mark  iii.  26.  Who  be- 
lieves that  Satan  actually  was  once  embodied,  and  is  capable  of 
resuming  flesh,  dividing  himself  in  twain,  and  dooming  his 
whole  person  to  annihilation?  "And  there  arose  certain  and 
bare  false  witness  against  him,"  Mark  xiv.  57.  It  never  was 
understood  that  false  witnesses  arose  from  the  dead,  to  testify 
against  the  blessed  Redeemer;  nor  yet,  that  the  High  Priest 
before  whom  he  was  arraigned,  was  a  dead  man,  who  sud-' 
denly  became  instinct  with  life.  When  he  stood  up,  (avua-Ta;) 
ver.  60,  and  examined  Jesus  concerning  the  things  whereof  he 
was  accused.  "The  young  men  arose,  bound  him  (Ananias) 
up,  and  carried  him  out,  and  buried  him,"  Acts  v.  6.  Was  it 
ever  supposed  that  a  miracle  was  performed  on  a  number  of 
dead  youths,  that  they  might  remove  the  corpse  of  this  trans- 
gressor to  the  grave?  Similar  questions  might  be  put  con- 
cerning the  rising  up  of  the  sect  of  the  Sadducees  in  a  state  of 
indignation,  Acts  v.  17,  and  of  the  sect  of  the  Libertines,  Acts 
vi.  9.  &c.,  but  there  is  enough  of  this  idle  exposure  of  criticism. 
Let  this  system  of  hesitation  concerning  the  possible  meaning  of 
words  be  pursued,  and  there  will  be  nothing  certain  in  Scrip- 
ture.— Nay,  let  it  be  brought  to  bear  on  all  we  read  and  hear, 
and  we  shall  be  reduced  to  universal  scepticism.  The  obvious 
and  grammatical  import  of  plain  words  must  ever  be  taken,  or 
we  must  fall  into  endless  error.  It  is  of  all  things  essential, 
that  by  this  rule  we  shall  abide,  in  the  perusal  of  what  God 
has  written.  He  never  employed  equivoques  to  express  his 
mind  to  his  creatures.  Now  it  so  happens  that  as  it  regards 
Rev.  XX.  4.,  we  are  given  an  antecedent  intimation,  that  leaves 
no  room  for  reasonable  doubt  as  concerns  its  real  meaning. 
The  kings  of  the  earth  being  gathered  together  by  the  agency 
of  the  frog-like  Demons,  and  by  the  divine  appointment,  to 
Armageddon,  "the  seventh  angel  poured  out  his  vial  into  the 
air;  and  there  came  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple  of  Heaven, 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  X3 

saying,  it  is  done,"  Rev.  xvi.  17.  This  surely  expresses  the 
completion  of  all  predicted  and  purposed  vengeance  on  the 
apostate  nations,  the  grand  and  fearful  winding  up  of  the  pre- 
sent dispensation.  Nor  can  this  be  an  erring  exposition,  for 
it  is  also  written,  "in  the  days  of  the  voice  of  the  seventh  an- 
gel, when  he  shall  begin  to  sound,  the  mystery  of  God  shall  be 
finished,  as  he  hath  declared  to  his  servants  the  prophets." 
Rev.  X.  7.  But  the  vengeance  which  befalls  the  infidel  faction 
with  their  kings,  their  captives  and  their  mighty  men,  at  Ar- 
mageddon; the  fierceness  and  wrath  of  Almighty  God,  so  long 
pent  up  in  the  seventh  vial,  is  all  discharged  by  the  Warrior 
Horseman;  whose  regal  dignity  is  inscribed  on  his  vesture  and 
his  thigh,  as  detailed  in  the  close  of  chap.  xix.  immediately  be- 
fore the  notice  of  the  first  Resurrection;  and  the  confederates 
are  either  cast  alive  into  the  lake  of  fire,  or  furnish  food  to  the 
fowls  of  Heaven.  Now  these  confederates,  thus  removed  from 
the  land  of  the  living,  are  pre-eminently  the  dead  in  sin;  They 
were  all  the  worshippers  of  the  Beast,  and  included  amongst 
them  all  those  throughout  Christendom,  "who  believed  not  the 
truth,  but  had  pleasure  in  unrighteousness,"  2  Thess.  ii.  12. 
If  they,  therefore,  who  at  this  era  fall  under  judgment  as  the 
dead  in  sin,  are  thus  weeded  out  of  the  earth,  it  necessarily 
follows  that  it  cannot  be  of  such  as  in  this  sense  only  are  dead, 
that  the  remark  is  made,  in  contrast  with  the  occupants  of  the 
thrones,  who  live  and  reign  with  Christ  the  thousand  years, 
and  constitute  the  first  resurrection,  "but  the  rest  of  the  dead 
lived  not  again,  till  the  thousand  years  were  finished;" — 
whence  it  follows,  that  the  rest  of  the  dead  are  no  other  than 
the  disembodied,  who  rejected  the  testimony  of  God  against 
themselves.  I  am  aware  of  Mr.  Gipp's  singular  opinion,  that 
the  living  and  reigning  with  Christ  a  thousand  years,  is  a  figure, 
for  the  spiritual  opposition  to  the  still  rampant  Beast,  of  a  suc- 
cession of  persons,  none  of  whom  he  will  permit  to  come  to  a 
natural  end,  but  all  of  whom  he  is  to  cut  off  with  the  sword 
of  martyrdom,  as  fast  as  they  arise,  their  ranks  being  filled  up 
by  others,  who  are  similarly  to  be  slain  for  their  resistance  to 
his  worship  and  his  mark.  The  millennium's  thus  to  be  a  sea- 
son, not  of  peace,  but  of  blood — not  of  rest,  but  of  trouble — 
not  of  life,  but  of  death!  Credat  qui  xult! — Strange  indeed, 
would  it  be,  if  so  direful  a  spirit  were  to  spring  up,  and  the 
most  terrific  and  enduring  of  all  persecutions,  with  which  the 
Church  was  ever  to  be  visited,  should  commence  just  as  Satan 
was  bound!  Strange  that  his  work  should  be  so  much  better 
done  for  him,  when  wholly  removed  from  the  scene,  than 
when  personally  acting  with  all  his  evil  energy,  in  all  the  chil- 
dren of  disobedience,  throughout  the  region  of  his  usurped  do- 
2<3* 


J4  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

minion!  I  know  not  how  to  account  for  it,  that  an  idea  such 
as  this  could  ever  have  obtained  admission  into  such  a  mind. 
The  Beast  is  but  Satan's  puppet — the  Dragon  gives  him  his  own 
throne,  authority,  and  power,  Rev.  xiii.  2.  The  whole  world 
worships  the  Dragon,  for  his  liberality  to  the  Beast,  ver.  4.  The 
Dragon  is  the  grand  conspirator  in  leading  up  the  kings  of  the 
earth  to  Armageddon.  (Rev.  xvi.  13.)  under  the  guidance  of 
the  Beast,  whose  head  is  at  this  time,  identified  with  the  Man 
of  Sin,  < 'whose  coming  is  after  the  working  of  Satan  with  all 
power,  and  signs,  and  lying  wonders,"  2  Thess.  ii.  9.  The 
gathering  together  therefore,  at  Armageddon,  the  rule  of  the 
Beast,  his  evil  doings,  and  his  disastrous  end  must,  beyond  all 
question,  take  place  before  the  imprisonment  of  Satan,  and  the 
expiry  of  his  deceitful  working.  But  (he  thrones  are  only 
then  occupied,  and  the  martyrs  only  then  reign,  when  the  bind- 
ing of  Satan  takes  place.  It  is  during  the  thousand  years  of 
his  captivity  that  they  are  expressly  said  to  reign,  in  the  pas- 
sage before  us,  and  it  thence  follows  indisputably,  that  their 
reign  is  subsequent  to  the  downfall  and  judgment  of  the  Beast, 
and  that  their  rejection  of,  and  martyrdom  by  him,  were  ante- 
rior to  that  event.  This  is  altogether  so  obvious,  that  I  never 
supposed  that  it  could  have  been  doubted. 

6.  The  whole  of  chap.  xx.  and  part  of  xxi.  having  been  quoted 
at  length,  ten  points  are  deduced  from  the  perusal  of  this  im- 
portant portion  of  holy  Scripture.  Some  are  self-evident; 
others  are  enlarged  on  afterwards.  They  demand  but  little 
observation.  In  his  seventh  point  we  are  met  with  the  asser- 
tion, that  death  and  the  grave,  as  the  enemies  of  Christ,  are 
not  destroj'ed  at  \.\\q  first  resurrection  but  at  the  judgment  before 
the  white  throne.  None  maintain,  that  they  are  so  destroyed 
at  the  first  resurrection;  it  remains  to  be  proved,  that  they  will 
be  so  at  the  latter.  Nothing  can  be  more  obvious,  than  that 
Death  and  Hades  being  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  denotes  sim- 
ply, that  the  ungodly  dead  are  consigned  to  that  dread  furnace, 
whose  l)odies  were  previously  preyed  on  by  the  one,  and  whose 
souls  had  once  populated  the  other.  Thus  viewed,  they  must 
be  regarded  as  the  prison-keepers  of  the  ungodly,  rather  than 
as  the  enemies  of  Christ.  In  this  latter  respect  they  are  not 
brought  before  us  here.  It  is  material  to  notice  that  a  pre- 
vious judgment,  executed  on  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet, 
a  thousand  years  preceding,  had  consigned  them  to  the  same 
place  of  torment,  chap.  xix.  20.  The  mere  casting  of  the 
wicked  into  that  abyss,  therefore,  is  not  tantamount  to  the  de- 
struction of  death  and  Hades  as  the  enemies  of  Christ.  I  will 
not  enter  here  on  the  whole  argument,  but  I  think  it  necessary 
to  premise,  with  reference  to  future  reasonings,  that  the  time, 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  25 

when  the  old  heavens  and  the  old  earth  pass  away,  are  by  no 
means  marked  in  Rev.  xx.  11.  It  is  there  simply  stated,  that 
he  who  sitteth  upon  the  great  white  throne  is  one,  from  whose 
face  they  did  flee  away.  The  period  of  their  flight,  and  the 
character  of  their  flight,  an  expression  by  the  way,  as  figura- 
tive as  any  that  occurs  in  the  book,  are  left  altogether  unde- 
termined. Yet  do  we  meet  with  a  remarkable  note,  in  the 
previous  part  of  the  book,  which  leads  us  at  once  to  determine 
the  juncture^  when  the  figurative  flight  occurs.  Under  the 
sixlh  seal,  which  plainly  marks  the  judgment  on  the  nations  at 
Armageddon,  it  is  written,  "the  heaven  departed  as  a  scroll, 
when  it  is  rolled  together;  and  every  mountain  and  island  were 
moved  out  of  their  places.      Rev.  vi.  14. 

7.  The  ten  points  having  been  made,  are  followed  by  eicrhl 
considerations.  I  proceed  to  notice  them  seriatim.  The  first  con- 
siderafion  is  thus  expressed: — "The  description,  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  has  given  of  the  persons,  who  will  reign  with  Christ,  as 
signified  in  this  passage,  convinces  me  that  he  does  not  intend 
to  signify  the  saints  reigning  with  Christ  after  his  second  com- 
ing. If  he  had  intended  this,  I  feel  assured  he  would  have 
given  such  a  designation  of  those  who  reign,  as  would  apply  to 
all  the  saints  without  exception.*'  I  am  prepared  to  prove, 
that  the  language  here  employed  does  include  them  all,  but  I 
feel  constrained  171  limine  to  protest  against  this  mode  of  putting 
the  question.  The  matter  at  issue  is  simply  this,  has  the  Spi- 
rit spoken  universaUij  of  the  saints  as  thus  reigning,  or  has  he 
confined  his  description  to  a  particular  class  of  saints,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  residue.  It  is  not  for  us  to  argue  what  would 
have  been,  or  what  ought  to  have  been  the  mode  of  expression 
employed  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  under  particular  circumstances. 
It  is  not  by  our  estimate  of  the  proprieties  of  expression,  that 
we  are  to  judge  of  the  diction  employed  by  the  Holy  Spirit; 
neither  must  we  presume  to  do  so.  But  he  proceeds — "Verse 
6,  limits  the  reigning  to  those,  who  partake  of  Vne  first  resurrec- 
tion. This,  therefore,  excludes  all  the  saints  who  remain  «/i^e 
at  the  time  of  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  because  they  will 
not  partake  of  any  resurrection  as  they  have  not  died."  Now, 
verse  6  does  not  limit  the  reigning  to  those  who  partake  of  the 
first  resurrection,  but  simply  pronounces  those  blessed,  who 
have  a  part  in  it.  Taking  it  thus  for  granted,  that  the  living 
saints  are  excluded  from  the  description  of  the  first  resurrec- 
tion, (Rev.  XX.  6,)  another  step  in  advance  is  made,  and  1  Cor. 
XV.  50,  54,  and  1  Thess.  iv.  15,  17,  are  appealed  to,  to  prove 
that  the  living  saints,  as  well  as  those  who  have  died,  shall  re- 
joice together  at  the  second  advent;  and  it  is  thence  concluded, 
fiom  the  discovery  of  so  essential  a  difference,  that  the  events 


Jg  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

referred  to,  in  Rev.  xx.  4,  6,  on  the  one  hand,  and  in  1  Cor.  xv. 
50,  54,  and  in  1  Thess.  iv.  15,  17,  on  the  other,  are  widely  dis- 
similar.    According  to  this  mode  of  reasoning,  his  own  system 
would  equally  fall  to  the  ground.     He  maintained,  that  the  just 
and  the  unjust  will  arise  together,  or  so  nearly  together,  that 
they  will  both  stand,  at  the  same  time,  on  the  same  day,  before 
the  bar  of  judgment.      But  the  unjust  are  not  named  in  1  Cor. 
XV.  nor  by  implication  included  in  1  Thess.  iv.     Those  pas- 
sages, therefore,  cannot  refer  to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  as 
they  contain  so  incomplete  a  representation  of  the  prodigies  of 
the  last  day,  as  necessarily  to  constitute,  by  the  vast  amount  of 
omission,  an  essential  difference  between  the  two  events.      In 
looking  over  the  Roman  History,  I  often  find  it  stated  that  the 
Romans  conquered;  without  noticing  the  auxiliaries  from  va- 
rious nations  under  heaven,  which  composed  their  army;  and 
in  the  same  manner  the  various  fortunes  of  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte are  continually  referred  to,  without  any  references  being 
made  to  the  tributary  forces,  by  whose  aid  he  pushed  on  his 
victories;  or  notwithstanding  whose  assistance  he  sustained  de- 
feat; are  we  therefore  to  conclude,  that  the  armies  either  of  the 
one  or  of  the  other  were  composed  exclusively  either  of  Ro- 
mans or  of  Frenchman?  With  as  much  evidence  of  truth  might 
we  conclude,  that  martyrs  only  are  included  in  the  narrative  of 
the  first  resurrection.     I  know  that  such  a  conclusion  indeed 
has  been  drawn  by  my  Millenarian  friend,  Mr.  Burgh,  from  the 
place  before  us,  since  he  restricts  the  sense  of  this  passage  to 
those,  who  have  at  least  had  the  spirit  of  martyrs.      Now  I,  for 
my  part,  believe  that  all  the  I^ord's  real  children  possess  just 
such  a  spirit,  for  they  have  the  spirit  of  Jesus.     No  other  spi- 
rit but  the  spirit  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of  martyrdom.      He  jus- 
tifies his  conclusion,  however,  by  identifying  the  white  robed 
armies  of  Rev.  xix.  14,  with  the  sitters  upon  thrones.     He  sup- 
poses them  to  be  the  understood  nominative  to  the  verb  sat; 
and  because  the  white  robed  multitude  of  Rev.  vii.  14,  are  said 
to  have  come  out  of  much  tribulation,  he  at  once  determines 
that  the  white  robe  is  the  martyrs'  garb  and  that  the  sitters  upon 
thrones  must  all  have  come  out  of  the  tribulation  of  martyrdom. 
But  a  little  examination  would  have  proved,  that  while  martyrs 
are  arrayed  in  white,  the  white  robe  is  not  peculiar  to  them. 
In  the  very  passage  referred  to,  it  is  said  that  their  robes  were 
made  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb;  but  all  who  truly  believe 
are  washed  clean  from  every  defilement  in  that  same  fountain. 
In  Rev.  xix.  S,  it  is  said  of  the  Lamb's  wife,  "to  her  was  granted 
that  she  should  be  arrayed  in  fine  linen,  clean  and  white;  for 
the  fine  linen  is  the  righteousness  of  saints,"  unless  it  be 
shown  that  none  belongto  the  bride,  and  that  none  arc  recog- 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  17 

nised  as  saints  but  such  as  either  passed,  or  were  actually  ready 
to  pass  through  martyrdom,  it  cannot  be  maintained  that  the 
white  robed  armies  who  follow  the  Lamb,  and  who  are  evi- 
dently identified  by  their  raiment  with  the  bride,  were  either 
martyrs  in  fact  or  in  intent.  True  it  is,  indeed,  that  these  white- 
stoled  attendants  on  Messiah  are  all  conquerors.  "He  that  over- 
cometh,  the  same  shall  be  clothed  in  white  raiment,"  Rev.  iii. 
5.  "To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  grant  to  sit  with  me  in  my 
throne,  even  as  I  also  overcame,  and  am  set  down  with  my 
Father  in  his  throne,"  verse  21,  but  before  Christ  addresses  this 
promise  to  the  Laodiceans  he  counsels  them,  and  that  too,  or 
ere  their  victory  can  be  achieved,  to  buy  of  him  while  raiment 
that  they  may  be  clothed,  and  that  the  shame  o/"  their  ?iaked?iess  do 
not  appear.  But  what  is  this  conquest?  "Whatsoever  is  born 
of  God  overcometh  the  world,  and  this  is  the  victory  that  over- 
cometh the  world,  even  our  faith.  Who  is  he  that  overcometh 
the  world,  but  he  that  believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God, 
1  John  V.  4,  5.  The  beloved  disciple  was  assuredly  directed 
to  pen  these  words,  at  once  to  shed  light  upon  his  own  pro- 
phecy, and  to  add  to  our  comfort  and  joy  of  faith.  Again,  he 
writes.  Ye  are  of  God,  little  children,  and  have  overcome  them,  the 
spirits  proceeding  out  of  the  Antichrist;  "because  greater  is  he 
that  is  in  you  than  he  that  is  in  the  world,"  1  John  iv.  4.  Be- 
sides, is  it  not  written  by  another  apostle — "Who  shall  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  Christ?  Shall  tribulation,  or  distress,  or 
persecution,  or  famine,  or  nakedness,  or  peril,  or  sword?  As 
it  is  written.  For  thy  sake  we  are  killed  all  the  day  long;  we 
are  accounted  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter.  Nay  in  all  these  things 
we  are  more  than  conquerors  through  him  that  loved  us," 
Rom.  vii.  35,  37.  Here,  indeed,  we  are  presented  with  a  long 
enumeration  of  every  description  of  sorrow,  that  can  arise  to  put 
the  stedfastness  of^'aith  to  trial  and  the  unquenchable  love  of 
Christ  to  the  test.  Most  graciously  is  conquest,  yea  more  than 
conquest  ensured  to  all,  who  are  troubled,  including  martyrs, 
but  not  excluding  others.  I,  therefore,  can  discover  no  ground 
for  the  limitation  that  has  been  contended  for,  though  I  readily 
admit,  nay  maintain,  on  the  general  tenor  of  Scripture,  that  it 
is  through  much  tribulation  the  way  to  the  kingdom  lieth;  and 
that  their's  is  a  perilous  state  who  know  nothing  of  it,  or  who 
court  the  world  in  order  to  avoid  it.  Let  there  be  an  unflinch- 
ing confession  of  Jesus  and  trouble  will  follow;  but  let  us  not 
restrict  the  fellowship  of  the  believer  with  Jesus  in  his  suffer- 
ings, to  external  trials.  Many,  on  whom  no  frown  of  man  ever 
alighted,  have  had  the  deepest  experience  of  his  sorrows,  who 
wept  over  Jerusalem,  and  whose  heart  bled  for  the  wretched- 
ness of  a  world  that  was  estranged  from  God.     In  addition 


Ig,  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

to  the  argument  to  be  derived  from  the  character  of  the 
white  robed  sufferers,  who  gain  the  conquest,  which  they 
undertake,  I  would  add  that  the  promise,  which  they  attain 
to,  is  sure  to  all  the  seed.  "7/"  ye  be  Christ's,  the?i  are  ye  Abra- 
ham's seed  and  heirs  according  to  the  promise.''  Gal.  iii.  29.  The 
Patriarchs,  the  Prophets,  and  all  who  obtained  a  good  report  of 
old,  "through  faith,  received  not  the  promise;  God  having 
provided  some  better  thing  for  us,  that  they  without  us  should 
not  be  made  perfect."  Heb.  xi.  39,  40.  'Tis  true  many  of 
these  endured  the  fire  of  persecution,  but  many  are  enumerated 
who  endured  none.  Faith  is  the  criterion  of  heirship  referred 
to;  and  the  possessors  of  that  faith  yet  await  the  time  with  pa- 
tience when  they  are  to  be  made  perfect  conjointly  with  us,  i.  e. 
with  all  7vho  have  obtaified  like  precious  faith  zcith  us,  through  the 
righteousness  of  our  God  afid  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  for  to  all  such 
are  given  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises,  that  by  these  they 
might  be  partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  and  therefore  of  the  di- 
vine inheritance.  2  Pet.  I,  3,  4.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
entailed  on  all  the  poor  in  spirit,  the  heirship  of  earth  belongeth 
to  all  the  meek — the  vision  of  God  shall  be  enjoyed  by  all  the 
pure  in  heart — the  peace-makers  are  all  the  children  of  God,  and 
if  children,  then  heirs;  so  that  the  poor  i?i  spirit — the  meek — the 
pure  i?i  heart — the  peace-makers — as  well  as  those  7vho  are  perse- 
cuted for  righteousness  sake,  are  all  persons  of  whom  we  may 
affirm  their's  is  the  kingdom  of  heave?!.  Matt.  v.  3 — 10.  What 
is  denoted  by  the  expression,  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  will  per- 
haps come  under  consideration.  But  I  proceed  to  examine 
more  closely  the  contested  passage,  and  beg  to  lay  it  before 
you,  as  exhibited  in  Mr.  R.  Roe's  forthcoming  Analytical 
Arrangement  of  the  Apocalypse,  where  it  is  laid  down  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  of  the  Hebrew  parallelism.* 

» 
*  "Mr.  Boys,  in  the  portions  of  Scripture  which  he  has  arranged,  first  ex- 
hibits the  corresponding  parts  in  such  visible  form  as  to  be  obvious  at  a  glance; 
and  then  subjoins,  in  similar  form,  a  summary  of  their  respective  topics.  It 
is  a  common  practice  to  write  metrical  compositions  in  this  manner,  lor  the 
purpose  of  shewing  both  the  species  of  verse,  and  the  order  of  their  occurrence; 
and,  if  this  is  advantageous  in  the  <iase  of  sound  only,  how  much  more  so  in 
that  of  the  sense.  It  is  indeed  only  so  far  as  this  process  is  mentally  perform- 
ed, that  a  single  sentence  can  be  understood;  and  though  this  may  be  sufficient 
on  all  common  occasions,  yet  in  the  case  of  the  Bible,  in  whicii  every  word 
has  weight,  and  in  which  the  correspondences  pervade  every  part,  with  un- 
equalled regularity,  variety  and  beauty,  every  possible  help  is  desirable.  In 
short,  I  consider  it  as  the  most  effective  instrument  that  has  yet  been  put  into 
our  hands;  that  it  is  capable  of  turning  the  scale  on  most  doubtful  questions; 
that  by  its  means  the  reader  often  obtains,  from  bare  inspection,  a  clearer  and 
more  comprehensive  view  of  the  subject  than  from  long  and  elaborate  com- 
mentaries; and  that,  till  an  arrangement  agreeable  to  it,  of  the  entire  volume 
of  Scripture  is  completed,  we  shall  not  make  the  nearest  possible  approach 
either  to  the  best  translation  or  the  most  correct  interpretation." 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 


19 


And  I  saw 


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General. 


Particular. 


TOPICS. 

Jail  Thrones. 

\  b  1  I  Sitting  and  judging. 

a  2  I  Souls:    description,  \\\\  EegaUve. 

b  2  I  Living  and  reigning, 
c  I  I  Time. 
a  3  1  Rest  of  the  dead, 
b  3  I  Not  living. 

c  2  I  Time. 


20  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

You  will  observe  two  objects  were  presented  to  the  Apos- 
tles' view,  1st. — Thrones  occupied  by  judges,  who  are  neither 
named  nor  described;  and  2ndly. — Souls,  -{vxai,  of  whom  a  de- 
scription is  given  both  positively  and  negatively.  As  the 
Thrones,  which  were  seen  occupied,  are  parallel  to  the  Souls 
who  are  so  minutely  described;  so  is  the  sitting  aiid  judging  on 
the  former,  parallel  to  the  living  and  the  reigning  of  the  latter; 
and  are  not  to  be  confounded,  as  if  they  relate  to  the  same  per- 
sons or  to  the  same  circumstances.  In  the  second  member  of 
the  parallelism,  the  living  saints  are  included  and  described 
negatively  (d.  2.)  along  with  those  (d.  1.)  who  had  been  cut  off 
in  that  same  persecution,  under  which  they  also  had  been  found 
faithful  though  they  escaped  the  sword.  The  former  member 
of  the  parallelism  (a  1.)  had  been  itself  abundantly  sufficient, 
to  have  included  all  these  different  parties,  had  it  not  been  the 
Lord's  will  to  have  afforded  special  encouragement  and  conso- 
lation to  such  of  his  dear  children,  as  shall  be  exposed  to  the 
last  fiery  trial  of  Antichrist,  now  speedily  about  to  be  devel- 
oped. The  fact  that  they  also  shall  live  and  reign  with  Christ, 
is  therefore  expressed  in  terms  that  admit  of  no  doubt;  and 
they  occupy,  accordingly,  so  prominent  a  place  in  the  predic- 
tion, that  some  would  confine  its  gracious  promise  exclusively 
to  them.  In  adopting  such  a  limitation,  they  are  neither  justi- 
fied by  the  passage  itself,  nor  by  the  context,  nor  by  the  gene- 
ral scope  of  Scripture. — I  have  further  to  remark  on  the  pas- 
sage, that  the  verb  (sxafl/o-stv)  they  sat,  having  no  nominative  ex- 
pressed, must  be  taken  impersonally  and  include  all  who  shall 
so  sit  on  thrones  and  judge;  but  these  are  described  to  be  the 
whole  body  of  the  saints,  1  Cor.  vi.  2;  2  Tim,  iv.  8,  &c. ;  and 
therefore  all  the  saints  shall  so  sit  and  so  judge.  Let  it  not  be 
supposed  that  because  the  verb  is  plural  it  cannot  be  taken  im- 
personally. I  offer  you  the  following  examples  of  plural  verbs, 
which  must  all,  of  necessity,  be  taken  impersonally,  from  the 
structure  of  the  sentences,  in  which  they  occur.  Thus,  good 
measure  it  is  said  shall  men  give  into  ijour  bosutn,  Luke  vi.  38; 
the  word  men  has  been  supplied — no  nominative  is  expressed 
— the  verb  is  J'a>rrouaiv.  Again,  thou  fool  this  night  do  they  require 
thy  soul  of  thee,  Luke  xii.  20,*  marg.  Our  translators,  how- 
ever, saw  that  a.7r^noua-tv  must  be  impersonally  taken.  A  very 
remarkable  instance  of  the  same  structure  occurs  Luke  xvi.  9, 
"they  may  receive  you  into  everlasting  habitations" — the 
nominative,  which  has  been  so  unfortunately  supplied  to  the 
verb,  tr«|aivTcu  has  led  to  considerable  misapprehension  of  the 
sense.     Two  instructive  examples  of  this  mode  of  writing  oc- 

♦  Sed  frustra  qiiarunt  veteres  de  quibiis  hoc  dicatur.     Est  enim  personales 
pro  impersonali,  aiU  activum  pro  Passive.    Grotius,  in  Poll  S3'nops:  in  loco. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  21 

cur  in  the  Apocalypse  itself.  The  fugitive  and  persecuted 
woman  had  a  place  prepared  for  her  of  God,  that  they  should 
feed  her  Ti>i<pa,a-iv,  1260  days,  Rev.  xii.  6,  i.  e.  she  was  to  be  fed 
during  that  period  of  time.  Lastly,  "blessed  is,  that  watcheth 
and  keepeth  his  garments  lest  he  walk  naked  and  they  see  his 
shame," — lest  who  see  it?  To  the  word  see  /^KiTraxn  there  can 
be  no  nominative  understood,  and  the  sense  obviously  is,  lest 
his  shame  become  an  object  of  general  observation.  But 
though  all  these  plural  verbs  are  taken  impersonally,  yet  do 
they  imply  a  numerical  whole,  which  acteth  the  part  ascribed 
to  the  unexpressed  and  unintimated  nominative.  By  some 
considerable  body  shall  the  shame  of  the  naked  be  discerned — 
the  woman  be  fed — the  faithful  distributers  of  mammon  be  re- 
ceived— the  soul  of  the  fool  be  required — the  benevolent  be 
benevolently  treated — and  the  thrones  be  occupied.  But  for 
the  knowledge  of  that  body,  in  each  particular  case,  we  must 
be  indebted  to  the  general  statements  of  Scripture  and  not  to 
the  sentence  alone  in  which  the  action  is  attributed  to  it. 

Cofisideration  the  second. — "The  description  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  has  given,  respecting  the  duration  of  the  reigning,  ap- 
pears to  me  another  reason  for  believing  it  is  not  the  same  as 
the  reigning  of  the»saints  with  Christ,  after  his  second  coming. 
If  this  passage  were  intended  to  foretell  such  a  reigning  of  the 
saints  after  their  resurrection,  as  would  be  immediately  con- 
nected with,  and  precede  their  reigning  for  ever;  I  feel  con- 
vinced we  should  have  met  with  some  express  declaration  upon 
this  subject;  and  that  the  mode  of  expression  in  verse  4,  would 
have  been  somewhat  of  this  kind:  "and  they  lived  and  reign- 
ed with  Christ  a  [Greek  the)  thousand  years  and  for  ever  and 
ever."  1  should  expect  this  both,  &c." — With  conjectural  ex- 
pectations it  is  in  vain  to  contend,  as  it  is  also  improper  to 
come,  to  the  examination  of  Scripture.  Here,  however,  we 
have  a  positive  misapprehension  of  what  is  actually  written. 
We  are  not  given  any  direct  information  as  to  the  duration  of 
the  reign  in  this  place.  That  which  we  are  instructed  in  the 
actual  duration  of,  is  the  term  of  Satan's  incarceration.  This 
being  limited  to  a  thousand  years,  during  the  which  the  rest 
of  the  dead  do  not  rise,  it  is  said,  not  concerning  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  thrones,  but  concerning  those  who  were  faithful 
during  the  tyranny  of  the  beast,  that  they  also  lived  and  reign- 
ed with  Christ  the  thousand  years — which  is  widely  difl'erent 
from  the  conjectured  statement,  that  they  only  lived  and  reigned 
A  thousand  years,  to  the  idea  that  their  reign  is  limited  to  that 
time.  They  exercise  uninterrupted  authority  while  Satan  is 
bound — when  loosed  for  a  little  season  he  interferes  with  that 
authority,  and  endeavours  to  re-establish  his  usurpation  on  the 

VOL.  III. — 27 


22  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

ruins  of  their  empire,  and  accordingly  he  leads  up  his  deluded 
victims  against  the  camp  of  the  saints.  But  what  is  the  issue? 
Does  he  succeed  in  his  daring  exploit?  Does  he  hurl  them 
from  the  thrones  they  occupy?  No  such  thing.  He  cannot 
compete  with  heaven.  Fire  comes  down  from  God  and  de- 
vours his  rebel  hosts,  while  he,  himself,  is  cast  anew  into  the 
lake  of  fire  where  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet  are.  The  in- 
road on  their  realms  is  effectually  and  for  ever  defeated,  and 
the  saints  continue  in  the  possession  of  their  covenant-esta- 
blished dominion.  In  a  note  the  error  is  pushed  to  an  extreme, 
on  the  autliority  of  an  anonymous  author:  "When  I  con- 
sider that  a  period  of  a  thousand  years  bears  a  less  proportion 
to  eternity,  than  the  smallest  grain  of  sand  does  to  the  whole 
earth;  and  that  the  saints  are  to  live  for  eternity,  I  iiever  can 
conceive  that  the  Holy  Ghost  has  given  such  numerous  and  glo- 
rious descriptions,  concerning  the  state  of  the  saints  during 
the  period  of  a  thousand  years,  and  has  left  the  infinitely  more 
important  eternity  wrapped  up  in  darkness,  &c. "  No  man's 
conceptions  are  to  be  the  gauge  by  which  we  are  to  measure 
the  wisdom,  whereby  the  Holy  Ghost  may  contrive  to  acquaint 
us  with  the  divine  purposes,  or  the  method  he  pursues  in  mak- 
ing known  to  us  things  to  come.  The  Socinian  might,  with 
equal  force,  bring  in  his  conceptions  to  interpret  what  is  writ- 
ten. The  question  can  never  be  what  any  man  thinks,  but 
what  God  has  taught.  In  this  case,  however,  the  period  is 
only  introduced  to  denote  the  probationary  term  allotted  to  the 
devil-freed  world,  under  the  reign  of  Christ  and  his  saints, 
during  which  the  rest  of  the  dead  are  suffered  to  remain  un- 
judged  in  Hades. 

Consideration  the  third. — "The  promise  given  inverse  6,  con- 
cerning those  who  partake  of  the  first  resurrection;  namely,  on 
such  the  second  death  hath  no  power,  would  also  lead  me  to  con- 
ceive, that  these  persons  do  not  signify  the  saints  risen  and 
reigning  in  their  glorified  bodies."  This  idea  is  the  very  op- 
posite of  consideration  the  first,  where  the  difficulty  was  repre- 
sented to  be,  that  former  promises  were  not  reiterated — here 
the  difficulty  is,  that  they  are  repeated.  The  promise  being 
given  to  the  saints,  while  living  in  their  mortal  bodies,  that  they 
should  not  taste  the  second  death,  it  is  thought  superfluous  to 
repeat  it  "with  reference  to  the  risen  saints!"  The  assurance, 
however,  that  the  second  death  has  no  power  on  those  who 
partake  of  the  first  resurrection,  being  one  that  is  addressed  to 
them  while  living  here  in  their  mortal  bodies  is  far  from  being 
superfluous,  and  is  plainly  designed  for  their  comfort,  while 
awaiting  the  promise  of  the  life  to  come.  It  is  not  deemed 
superfluous,  or  inappropriate  to  his  risen  state  to  say,  that  Christ 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  23 

being  raised  from  the  dead  dieth  no  more,  (QavstTo?  etltou  olx.  in  KvpiMi) 
death  domineers  no  longer  over  him,  Rom.  vi.  9,  and  if  it  be  not 
inappropriate  or  superfluous  thus  to  speak  of  the  risen  head, 
neither  can  it  be  so  to  affirm  of  the  risen   members,  over  such 
the  Death  the  second  possesses  no   authority.     Our  Lord,  when 
speaking  of  his  members,  as  rvorthy  to  obtain  that   age,  and  the 
resurrection,  that  out  of  dead  ones,  deems  it  neither  inappropri- 
ate nor  superfluous  to  speak  of  them,  in  the  enjoyment  of  that 
resurrection,  as  persons,  who  cannot  die  any  more,  ou-n  yap  amda.  vuv 
'in  S'uvuvmt,  Luke  XX.  36,  and  how  then  can  it  be  either  inappro- 
priate or  superfluous  to  speak  of  them  as  persons,  over  whom 
the  death  the  second  possesses  no  authority?     So  far  is  it  from  being 
either  inappropriate  or  superfluous  to  speak  of  them  after  this 
wise,  that  had  the  fact  not  been  made  a  matter  of  promise  and 
revelation,  we  could  never,  with  certainty,  have  known  that 
their  enjoyment  of  the  resurrection  would  involve  their  com- 
plete   and   perpetual   exemption   from   so    fearful  a   calamity. 
Even  thus  viewed,  the  objection  embodied  in  consideration  the 
third  is  evidently  fallacious.     It  is  put  somewhat  more  strongly 
thus,  to  those  who  are  in  this  life,  exposed  to  the  frst  death  it 
is  promised  "he  that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second 
death.     Hence  the  superfluousness,  if  I  might  so  speak,  of  such 
a  promise  in  reference  to  the  riseti  and  glorified  saints,  and  its 
peculiar   suitableness   and  actual  previous   application  by  the 
Spirit,    to  suffering  saints  before  the  first  death,  and  exposed 
thereto,  would  confirm  my  conviction  that  the  reigning  with 
Christ  cannot  signify  that  of  the  saints  with  their  glorified  bo- 
dies."    We  have  already  despatched  the  question  of  the  super- 
fluousness of  such  a   statement  with    reference   to   the  risen 
saints.     I  now  proceed  to  show  that  the  whole   argument  is 
based  upon  the  erroneous  conception  that  the  passage  before  us 
is  a  promise  at  all. — It  is  narrative  and  not  promise — prophetic 
narrative  penned  not  for  the  instruction  of  risen  saints,  but  for 
the  comfort  o(  suffering  saints.     The  words  are  consecutive  to 
the  prophecy  o(  the  frst  resurrection,  and  are  as  follows: — *'He 
is  blessed  and  holy  who  has  part  in  the  resurrection  the  first. 
Over  these  the   death   the   second  has  no   authority,  but  they 
shall  be  priests  of  God,  even  Messiah,  and  shall  reign  with  him 
a  thousand  years.     Here  is  nothing  of  an  address  to  the  living 
but  an  extract  from  an  historical  prophecy,  styled  "the  revela- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  which  John  was  commanded  to  write 
in  a  book  and  to  send  to  the  seven  churches.     It  states  as  a 
fact  concerning  certain  persons,  who  share  in  "the  resurrec- 
tion the  first,"  that  "the  death  the  second,"  which  is  evidently 
opposed  thereunto,  has  no  authority,  exercises  no  control  over 
them,  oiKix^i^ova-ictv.     This  statement  supposes  ihat  the  death  the 


24  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

second,  is,  at  the  time  spoken  of,  in  the  actual  possession  of  do- 
minion. But  the  death  the  seco7id  is  described  to  be  the  same 
thing  with  the  casting  of  the  ungodly  into  the  Lake  of  fire. 
Rev.  XX.  14.  Now  the  first  time  when  in  the  exercise  of  re- 
tributive justice,  ungodly  persons  are  cast  into  it,  and  thus  sub- 
jected to  the  dominion  of  the  death  the  seco?id,  is  on  the  discom- 
fiture of  the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet.  Till  the  Beast  and 
the  False  Prophet  therefore,  are  cast  into  the  Lake  of  fire,  the 
death  the  second  will  have  no  subjects,  and  will  exercise  in  con- 
sequence no  dominion.  There  could  be  nothing  peculiar  affirm- 
ed, respecting  any  class  of  persons  at  present,  were  we  to  say 
of  them,  that  the  death  the  second  has  no  power  over  them,  for 
he  has  no  power  over  any,  since  the  Beast  and  the  False  Pro- 
phet are  not  yet  consigned  to  the  Lake  of  fire.  But  after  that 
event  it  will  be  a  striking  peculiarity,  in  the  case  of  the  risen 
saints,  that  notwithstanding  their  previous  descent  to  Hades, 
the  death  the  second  has  no  power  over  them.  The  introduction 
of  this  tremendous  tyrant  in  the  exercise  of  power,  but  yet  a 
power  which  reaches  not  to  the  saints,  and  therefore,  interfereth 
not  with  the  sovereignty  they  exercise,  when  placed  on  thrones, 
and  in  possession  of  the  crown  which  the  rigliteous  judge  shall 
award  them,  is  a  strong  corroborative  testimony  to  the  literal 
interpretation  of  the  first  Resurrection.  Their  jurisdiction  is 
independent  of  his,  and  his  independent  of  theirs.  Both  ex- 
ercise authority  at  the  same  period,  but  over  widely  difierent 
realms. 

Consideration  the  fourth. — "If  the  first  resurrection  be  inter- 
preted to  signify  the  resurrection  of  the  saints,  then  "the  rest  of 
the  dead,"  in  ver.  5,  and  '*the  dead,  small  and  great,"  in  ver. 
12,  must  be  interpreted  to  signify  the  ungodly  dead;  and  to  be 
the  same  the  one  as  the  other.  It  appears  to  me,  however, 
that  "the  rest  of  the  dead"  cannot  be  interpreted  to  be  the 
same  as  "the  dead,  small  and  great,"  because  the  expressions 
are  so  widely  diflferent.  I  cannot  but  conceive,  that  if  the 
Holy  Ghost  had  intended  the  same  persons  in  ver.  5,  and  ver. 
\2,  he  w^ould  have  given  the  same  description  in  each,  and  that 
ver.  12  would  have  been,  "and  I  saw  the  rest  of  the  dead  stand 
before  God,"  &c.  We  have  here  another  instance  of  his 
conception  of  what  the  Holy  Ghost  would  have  said,  had  he 
really  intended  to  convey  a  certain  meaning.  But  I  pass  this 
over.  It  is  by  a  considerable  bound,  the  conclusion  was  reach- 
ed, that  the  ungodbj  being  denoted  by  "the  rest  of  the  dead," 
must  also  be  denoted  by  "the  dead,  small  and  great."  It  de- 
manded a  pause  before  so  hasty  a  stride  was  taken.  The  tin- 
godbj  being  understood  to  be  "the  rest  of  the  dead,"  must 
doubtless  be  included  amongst   "the  dead,  small  and  great," 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  25 

who  are  brought  up  finally  for  judgment;  but  wherefore  is  it 
that  this  latter  expression  must  needs  be  confined  to  them? 
There  is  a  change  indeed,  in  the  form  of  expresson,  but  may 
there  not  be  abundant  reason  for  it  differing  essentially  from 
that  contemplated  by  Mr.  Gipps.  A  thousand  years  intervene 
between  the  period  when  "the  rest  of  the  dead"  are  doomed 
not  to  live  again,  till  the  expiration  of  that  remarkable  epoch, 
and  the  time  when  "the  dead,  small  and  great,"  are  led  up  to 
the  White  Throne.  Is  it  not  possible  that  in  so  great  a  space 
of  time  the  invisible  world  may  receive  a  considerable  increase 
of  inhabitants  from  amongst  the  mortal  dwellers  upon  earth, 
over  whom  the  saints  shall  reign?  Great  longevity  indeed, 
will  be  restored  to  man,  but  still  death  is  to  exist  during  the 
Millennium.  The  child  of  a  hundred  years  shall  die.  That 
mortality  will  then  take  place,  is  determined  by  these  Scrip- 
tures amongst  others.  Isa.  Ixv.  20;  Ezek.  xliv.  25,  31;  1  Cor. 
XV.  26.  Had  verse  12  merely  stated  that  "the  rest  of  the  dead," 
as  described  in  verse  5,  who  had  died  before  the  thousand  years 
began,  stood  before  God,  it  would  not  have  included  those, 
who  shall  die  during  the  thousand  years. — But  this  is  not  so. 
Co7isideration  the  Jifth. — "The  time  when  "the  rest  of  the 
dead  lived  again,"  in  ver.  5,  appears  to  me  equally  to  differ 
from  the  time  when  "the  dead,  small  and  great  stand  before 
God,"  in  ver,  12.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  clearly  implied  that 
the  resurrection  "of  the  rest  of  the  dead,"  signified  in  ver.  5, 
will  take  place  after  "the  ending  of  the  thousand  years;"  at 
the  same  time  that  Satan  is  "loosed  from  his  prison,"  ver.  7. 
But  "the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before  God,"  not  after 
the  ending  of  the  thousand  years,  but  of  the  intervening  period 
described  ver.  7,  to  10.  Consequently  this  cannot  be  the  same 
as  the  "living  again  of  the  rest  of  the  dead,"  described  in  ver. 
5.  but  must  be  separated  from  it  by  this  intervening  period." 
That  the  resurrection  of  the  rest  of  the  dead  will  take  place 
after  the  expiration  of  the  thousand  years,  admits  of  no  doubt, 
but  the  sense  intended  to  be  conveyed  by  the  phrase,  that  it 
will  take  place  "after  the  ending"  of  those  years  is  not,  that  it 
will  merely  be  subsequent  to  their  expiration,  but  that  it  will 
immediately  take  place  when  they  come  to  a  close.  Two  as- 
sumptions are  involved  in  their  statement:  ihe first  is,  that  "the 
rest  of  the  dead"  arise  at  the  very  moment  in  which  the  thou- 
sand years  expire,  and  the  second  is,  that  the  judgment  before 
the  great  white  throne  does  not  occur  till  after  the  destruction 
of  Gog  and  Magog.  The  first  assumption  rests  on  the  force  of 
the  word  until.  It  is  written,  "the  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not 
again,  until  the  thousand  years  were  finished."  If  this  pre- 
diction conveys  the  idea  of  their  immediate  resurrection,  from 
27* 


26 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION, 


the  force  of  the  word  U7itil,  then  have  we  often  employed  this 
word  in  a  very  loose  manner.    But  let  us  put  it  to  the  test.    It 
wasprophecied  by  Jacob; — "The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from 
Judah;    nor  a  lawgiver  from   between   his  feet,   until  Shiloh 
come."     Gen.  xlix.  10.     Did  this  take  place  immediately  upon 
Shiloh's  appearance?   Judea  did  not  become  a  Roman  Province 
till  eleven  years  after  Messiah's  birth,  and  though  then  incor- 
porated with  Syria,  the  Jews  were  still  suffered  to  retain  their 
own  polity,  nor  was  it  wholly  subverted  till  the  fall  of  Jerusa- 
lem.    The  young  maidens  who  directed  Saul  in.  his  quest  for 
the  Seer,  said  to  him  and  his  servant;  "as  soon  as  ye  be  come 
into  the  city,  ye  shall  straightway  find  him,  before  he  go  up  to 
the  high  place  to  eat,  for  the  people  will  not  eat  until  he  come, 
because  he  doth  bless  the  sacrifice,  and  afterwards  they  eat  that 
be  bidden."    1  Sam.  ix.  13.    Does  this  imply  that  immediately 
on  the  appearance  of  the  Seer,  the  people  all  began  to  eat?  Even 
after  their  important  colloquy,  and  after  Samuel  had  placed  the 
destined  Monarch  and  his  Servant  in  the  most  honourable  seat 
in  the  parlour,  a  delay  arose,  till  the  reserved  joint  was  served 
up  for  the  extraordinarily  honoured  guests.    WhenArtaxerxes 
wrote  to  the  Samaritans  saying; — "Give  ye  now  commandment 
to  cause  these  men  to  cease,  and  that  this  city  be  not  builded, 
until  another  commandment  shall  be  given  from  me,"  Ezra 
iv.  19,  did  he  give  them  to  understand,  that  on  issuing  that  pro- 
spective decree,  the  city  should  arise  immediately  in  all  her  fair 
proportions?     With  just  as  fair  shew  of  reason  might  it  be  ar- 
gued, that  Samuel  went  to  see  Saul  on  the  day  of  his  death,  1 
Sam.  XV.  35;  that  the  apostles  immediately  departed  from  Je- 
rusalem, when  they  were  endued  with  power  from  on  high, 
Luke  xxiv.  49;  and  that  Mary  ceased  to  be  a  Virgin  the  very 
moment  she  brought  forth  her  first-born  Son,  Matt.  i.  25.   The 
second  assumption  supposes,  that  because  the  judgment  before 
the  great  white  throne  \s  related  after  the  destruction  of  Gog 
and  Magog,  it  must  therefore,   be   subsequent  to   that  event. 
This  assumption  can  only  arise  from  an  entire  ignorance  of  the 
structure  of  the  Apocalypse.      It  is  far  from  being  a, continuous 
record  of  events,  successive! ij  to  ensue.    As  well  might  we  argue, 
that  because  the  second  advent  is  noticed  in  Rev.  i.  7,  all  that 
is  related  subsequently  as  happening,  in  the  book  is  posterior 
to  that  event.     The  subsequently  related  events  may,  or  may 
not  be  posterior,  but  this  must  first  be  demonstrated  before  any 
inference,  can  legitimately  be  drawn  from  it.     My  own  opinion 
is,  that  the  two  events  in  question  are  coetaneous.     There  is 
no  mark  given,  by  which  we  can  certainly  decide  that  they  do 
not  synchronize.     However  the  idea  on  which  he  resolves  that 
they  are  consecutive,  might  have  been  urg.ed,  with  great  weight 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  27 

against  the  writer  himself.  According  to  him,  we  have  the 
coming  of  Christ,  and  the  simultaneous  resurrection  of  the  just 
and  of  the  unjust,  and  their  respective  dooms  described  in  Rev. 
XX.  11,  15.  But  by  his  theory  also,  the  descent  of  the  Saints, 
under  the  symbol  of  New  Jerusalem,  is  described  in  the  second 
verse  of  the  succeeding  chapter.  They  however  come  with 
Christ,  the  living  Saints  being  caught  up  the  while  to  meet 
them.  1  Cor.  xv,  23,  1  Thess.  iv.  16,  17.  If  the  prophecy 
therefore,  be  a  consecutive  narrative  of  events,  gradually  to  be 
unfolded  in  the  very  order  of  their  prediction,  we  must  at  once 
come  to  the  conclusion,  either  that  the  Judgment  before  the 
White  Throne  is  anterior  to  the  coming  of  Christ  with  his 
Saints,  and  is  descriptive  of  something  widely  different  from 
the  transactions,  which  shall  occur  on  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
City;  or  else  that  the  descent  of  the  Holy  City,  as  a  bride 
adorned  for  her  husband,  is  the  symbolical  representation,  not 
of  those  blessed  souls  who  shall  accompany  the  Lord  on  his 
return,  but  of  some  event  posterior  to  their  resurrection  and 
appearing. 

Consideration  the  sixth. — ''The  omission  of  any  declaration 
as  to  "the  sea,  death,  and  the  grave  giving  up  the  dead"  at  the 
first  resurrection,  and  the  making  such  a  declaration  respecting 
the  dead,  in  ver.  13,  convinces  me  both  that  the  "first  resurrec- 
tion" is  not  that  of  the  saints,  and  also,  that  the  dead  in  vers. 
12,  13,  include  all  mankind,  both  the  saints  and  the  ungodly." 
Let  us  attend  to  the  process  of  reasoning,  for  at  the  first  sight 
the  reason  here  put  forward,  is  far  from  obvious.  "In  every 
other  part  of  the  word  of  God,  the  information  given  concern- 
ing the  resurrection  of  the  Saints  is  not  only  much  more  fre- 
quent, but  also  much  more  explicit,  than  concerning  the  resur- 
rection of  the  ungodly.  I  feel  convincedj  therefore,  that  in  this 
portion  also  of  Scripture,  if  it  were  intended  to  foretell  a  resur- 
rection of  the  saints  distinct  from  that  of  the  ungodly,  more  ex- 
plicit information  would  be  given  concerning  the  former,  than 
concerning  the  latter.  I  find,  however,  that  the  information 
given,  concerning  "the  first  resurrection,"  instead  of  being 
much  more,,  is  much  less  explicit,  than  that  concerning  the 
resunection  intimated  in  ver.  12,  13,  for  there  is  not  the  least 
allusion  to  the  "sea,  death,  and  the  grave  giving  up  the  dead" 
at  the  first  resurrection,  and  it  is  expressly  declared,  that  they 
do  this  at  the  timeof  the  resurrection  set  forth  in  ver.  12,  13." 
Are  the  sea,death,  and  the  grave,  synonymous  with  the  saints?  Or 
is  it  essential  that  these  objects  should  enter  into  the  explicit 
delineation  of  the  sainta  at  their  resurrection?  It  appears  to 
me  that  we  are  given  far  more  explicit  information  concerning 
them,  when  they  are  described  as  «7/m^  on  thrones,. and  judging^ . 


28 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 


as  livwg  and  reigning  zvith  Christ  the  thousand  years,  than  what 
we  should  have  been,  had  we  been  only  taught  to  believe,  that 
the  various  receptacles  of  their  mouldering  and  mouldered  bo- 
dies, had  yielded  those  bodies  up.  Might  there  not,  however, 
be  some  wise  and  important  reason  for  omitting  the  notice  of 
their  various  burial  places,  and  fixing  the  attention  exclusively 
on  the  site  of  their  united  glory?  Are  they  not  one  and  all 
represented  as  sleeping  in  Jesus,  as  having  one  common  place 
of  repose,  as  being  collected  into  the  common  repository  of  the 
Saviour's  body,  and  as  having  risen  with  him  virtually,  when 
he  burst  the  sepulchre,  and  would  it  not  therefore,  have  been 
unmeet  to  have  represented  them  here  as  the  yet  unrisen,  as 
distributed  into  various  masses,  and  as  divided  in  death  amongst 
the  various  charnel-houses,  which  sea,  death,  and  the  grave  af- 
forded? Possessed  of  the  glory  that  excelleth,  the  dark  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death,  through  which  they  had  past,  is  for- 
gotten, and  nothing  is  remembered  but  the  victory  by  which 
death  was  swallowed  up;  the  victory  by  which  the  sting  was 
extracted  from  the  oppressor;  the  life,  which  having  been  hid 
in  Jesus,  was  brought  out  into  manifestation,  when  Christ,  who 
is  their  life,  had  appeared,  as  the  triumphant  word  of  God, 
whereupon  they  accordingly  had  taken  their  covenanted  seat 
with  him  upon  his  throne.  Most  richly  fraught  with  comfort 
is  the  very  omission,  by  which  it  is  sought  to  overturn  their 
possession  of  immortality,  and  their  acquisition  of  incorruption, 
in  the  morning  of  the  first  resurrection.  Most  blessed  is  the 
thouo-ht,  that  the  glory,  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us,  is  such 
and  so  great,  that  the  sufferings  of  the  present  time,  and  our 
lio-ht  afflictions,  which  are  but  for  a  moment,  though  that  mo- 
ment be  death,  are  yet  unworthy  of  notice  by  the  inspiring 
spirit,  when  he  would  set  forth  our  exceeding  blessedness,  as 
partakers  of  the  first  resurrection.  It  is  very  singular  that  this 
should  be  deemed  a  less  explicit  notice  of  the  Saints,  which 
setteth  forth  their  glory  as  enthroned — as  judging  the  world — as 
living  and  reigning  zcith  Christ,  than  a  passage  which  merely  de- 
scribelh  the  resignation  by  the  sea,  death,  and  the  grave  of  those, 
whose  bodies  they  held  in  possession.  Here  the  saints  occupy 
the  whole  space  in  the  view  of  the  Prophet,  who  is  so  wrapt 
up  with  the  contemplation  of  their  exalted  dignity  that  he  de- 
spatches the  whole  mass  of  the  ungodly,  with  the  brief  notice, 
"the  rest  of  the  dead."  There,  not  a  syllable  occurs,  which 
can  be  construed  to  describe  the  saints  themselves,  or  the  glory 
which  they  inherit;  they  are  left  without  one  explicit  note  to 
mark  them,  though  they  are  said  to  be  most  explicitly  held  up 
to  our  consideration  in  the  words  seal  death!  grave!  Even 
the  word  Avxa-TAtrt;  or  resurreetion,  is  not  once  met  with,  and  yet 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  29 

it  twice  occurs  in  the  place  where  it  is  said  they  are  entirely 
overlooked.  Here,  their  future  state  as  risen,  is  detailed.  There, 
the  past  condition  of  the  judged,  as  having  been  held  previous- 
ly by  the  sea,  deatii,  and  the  grave,  is  described,  together  with 
the  doom  of  those,  who  are  not  written  in  the  book  of  life,  and 
who  are  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.  Is  this  anything  resembling 
explicit  information  concerning  the  saints? 

Consideration  the  Seventh. — "Those  which  have  been  already 
adduced  are  confirmed  by  the  introduction  in  verse  15  of  tlie 
phrase  of  distinction,  "whosoever  was  not  found  written  in  the 
book  of  life,"  in  describing  who  are  to  be  "cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire."  There  could  be  no  occasion  for  this  distinction  unless 
these  who  are  written  in  the  book  of  life  had  formed  a  part  of 
those,  vvho  stood  before  God  and  zuere  judged.  For  otherwise 
the  dead,  in  verse  12,  would  include  only  the  ungodly;  and 
consequently  all  the  dead  would,  without  exception,  "be  cast 
into  the  lakeof  fire. "  In  this  case  the  mode  of  expression  in 
verse  15,  would  have  been  as  general  as  in  verse  12;  and  as 
•  verse  12  speaks  of  "the  dead,  small  and  great,"  standing  before 
God,  so  verse  15  would  have  declared  "and  the  dead,  small  and 
great,  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire."  I  premise  that  all  the 
dead  who  stand  before  God  must  be  those  who  at  that  time 
were  in  the  state  of  death.  A  false  impression  might  be  pro- 
duced in  the  mind  of  the  reader  of  this  place  that  Millenarians 
were  chargeable  with  the  doctrine  that  all  who  die  are  cast  into 
the  lake  of  fire.  This  place  is  considered  by  them  to  repre- 
sent the  judgment  simply  of  those,  who  remained  in  the  state 
of  death  at  the  period  of  the  first  resurrection,  and  of  all  those 
who  may  have  descended  into  that  state  after  the  first  resur- 
rection. It  is  rather  an  uncommon  kind  of  proof  to  refer  to 
those,  who  are  "not  written  in  the  book  of  life,"  as  evi- 
dences that  ALL  those  who  were  ever  written  in  the  book  of 
life  are  included  in  their  description.  The  negation  of  par- 
ticular qualities  in  any  company  of  men  does  not  imply  the 
existence  of  those  qualities  in  others  with  whom  they  may 
be  associated.  Still  a  marked  distinction  does  exist  between 
the  statement  of  the  dead  who  stand  before  the  throne,  and 
the  dead  who  are  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.  That  distinc- 
tion, while  it  justifies  not  the  idea  that  a//  the  living  just,  at  this 
time,  stand  before  the  throne,  seems  to  result  from  what  we  re- 
marked under  consideration  the  fourth,  that  death  will  exist  dur- 
ing the  Millennium:  and  that  children  of  an  hundred  years 
old,  who  are  not  accursed,  will  die.  The  names  of  these  latter 
will,  doubtless,  be  inscribed  in  the  book  of  life;  and  to  distin- 
guish them  from  such,  it  is  said  of  the  dead,  who  stand  before 


30  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.. 

the  throne,  that  their  names,  not  being  written  in  the  book  of 
life,  they  are  cast  intO'  the  lake  of  fire.  But  observe,  particu- 
larly, who  they  are,  that  are  said  to  stand  before  the  throne, 
and  to  be  cast  into  the  lake.  They  are  the  dead — not  per- 
sons raised  from  death  and  possessed  anew  of  life,  but  persons 
still  dead,  who  only  exchange  one  form  of  death  for  another — 
not  one  word  is  there  said  in  this  place  to  indicate  that  the  per- 
sons judged  are  made  alive  again.  The  resurrection  of  dam- 
nation is  not  a  resurrection  of  life! 

Consider alion  the  Eighth. — "The  declaration  made  in  verse  12, 
concerning  "the  opening  of  the  book  of  life,'^  at  the  time  when 
the  dead  are  judged,  and  the  reference  made  to  it  in  verse  15, 
convince  me  that  the  first  resurrection  cannot  signify  the  resur- 
rection of  the  saints  at  the  second  coming  of  Christ.  The 
opening  of  the  book  of  life,  as  observed  p.  1 1,  appears  to  me  to 
signify  the  manifestation  of  those  who  are  written  in  it.  Two 
reasons  lead  me  to  conceive,  that  this  must  take  place  at  the 
second  coming  of  Christ."  The  act  of  opening  a  book  is  the 
manifestation  of  nothing.  When  opened  before  a  judge  it  is 
designed  for  reference  and  appeal.  The  publication,  or  the 
reading  aloud  of  a  registry,  containing  the  names  of  individu- 
als, appointed  to  favour  or  to  office,  would  be  the  manifestative 
declaration  of  the  good  awarded  them;  and  had  it  been  stated 
in  this  place  that  such  a  publication  was  to  be  made,  I  should 
then  acquiesce  in  the  criticism,  which  describes  the  opening 
of  the  book  to  signify,  "the  manifestation  of  those  who  are 
written  in  it."  But  so  far  is  this  from  being  the  case,  I  find 
the  only  use  which  it  is  described  as  subserving,  is  the  making 
such  an  appeal  to  its  pages  as  leads  to  the  discovery  of  those 
zvho  have  jiot  bee?},  enrolled  zvithi?i  it,  that  they  may  be  cast  into 
the  lake  of  fire.  It  is  placed  there  as  a  book  of  reference,  and 
does  not  symbolize  the  open  manifestation  of  the  saints,  of 
whom  no  mention  whatsoever  is  made.  It  may  be  as  well  to 
examine  further  the  expression  on  which  these  remarks  are 
founded — <'the  book  of  life."  It  is  not  peculiar  to  the  Apoca- 
lypse. We  meet  it  for  instance  in  Phil.  iv.  3,  "others,  my  fel- 
low labourers,  whose  names  are  written  in  the  book  of  life." 
You  are  aware  of  the  Jewish  notion,  that  on  the  first  day  of 
the  New  Year,  tiiree  books  are  alwa3^s  opened,  not  for  the 
manifestation  of  character,  but  for  the  registration  therein,  re- 
spectively of  the  righteous,  the  middling,  and  the  incorrigible, 
the  righteous  being  immediately  written  to  everlasting  life. 
Upon  leaving  the  synagogue  the  first  night  of  the  feast,  they 
accordingly  salute  each  other,  saying,  ''to  a  good  year  shall  ye 
be  inscribed,"  to  which  the  reply  is,  "and  thou  also."  In 
their  New  Year's-Day  service"  this  petition  occurs,  "remem- 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  31 

ber  us  unto  life,  0  King!  delighted  with  the  living;  vouchsafe 
to  write  us  in  the  book  of  life,  for  thine  own  sake,  0  God  of 
life!  the  living  God,  the  King,  our  Supporter,  Saviour,  and 
Protector."  Now,  though  they  have  no  autliority  for  the  ex- 
istence of  any  such  annual  transaction,  yet  had  Moses  taught 
them  that  a  record  of  the  professedly  righteous  was  kept  by 
Jehovah,  from  which  he  blotteth  out,  from  time  to  time,  the 
names  of  the  transgressors,  who  belie  their  profession.  Very 
remarkable  is  the  place  I  refer  to.  On  the  occasion  of  the 
golden-calf  "Moses  returned  unto  the  Lord,  and  said,  Oh,  this 
people  have  sinned  a  great  sin,  and  have  made  them  Gods  of 
gold.  Yet  now,  if  thou  wilt  forgive  their  sin; — and  if  not,  blot 
me,  I  pray  thee,  out  of  thy  book,  which  ihou  hast  written. 
And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  whosoever  hath  sinned  against 
me,  him  will  I  blot  out  of  my  book."  Exod.  xxxii.  32,  33. 
*  This  affecting  incident,  which  manifested  such  intense  love 
in  Moses  for  the  children  of  his  people,  may  further  be  illus- 
trated by  the  threat  denounced  against  the  false  prophets,  Ezek. 
jciii.  9.  "Mine  hand  shall  be  upon  the  prophets  that  see  vanity, 
and  that  divine  lies;  they  shall  not  be  in  the  assembly,  [or  se- 
cret council,]  of  my  people;"  they  shall  not  betaken  into  con- 
sultation— "in  the  good  secret  which  is  hidden  from  my  peo- 
ple, they  shall  not  be"  Targ.  "neither  shall  they  be  written  in 
the  writing  of  the  house  of  Israel."  That  writing  cannot  be 
the  mere  roll  or  register  of  those,  who  return  from  captivity, 
for  that  would  only  amount  to  the  same  thing,  which  is  set 
forth  in  the  succeeding  denunciation,  "neither  shall  they  enter 
into  the  land  of  Israel."  The  Targum  correctly  expounds  it, 
"in  the  writing  of  the  life  of  the  age,  which  is  written  for  the 

"*  In  the  public  registers,  all  that  were  born  of  a  particular  tribe  were  en- 
tered in  the  list  of  their  respective  families,  under  that  tribe.  This  was  the 
Book  of  Life;  but  when  any  of  those  died,  his  name  might  be  considered  as 
blotted  out  from  this  list.  Our  baptisvial  registers,  which  record  the  births  of 
all  the  inhabitants  of  a  particular  parisA  or  district,  and  which  are  properly  our 
hooks  of  life;  and  our  bills  of  mortality,  which  are  properly  our  books  of  death, 
or  the  lists  of  those  who  are  thus  blotted  out  from  our  baptismal  register,  or 
books  of  life,  are  very  significant  and  illustrative  remains  of  the  ancient  regis- 
ters, or  books  of  life  and  death,  among  the  Jews,  the  Greeks,  the  Romans,  and 
most  ancient  nations.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  in  China,  the  names  of  the 
persons  who  have  been  tried  on  criminal  processes,  are  written  in  two  distinct 
books,  which  are  called  the  book  of  life,  andifAc  book  of  death;  those  who  have 
been  acquitted,  or  who  have  not  been  capitally  convicted,  are  written  in  the 
former;  those  who  have  been  found  guilty  in  the  latter.  These  two  books  are 
presented  to  the  Emperor,  by  his  Ministers,  who,  as  Sovereign,  has  a  right  to 
erase  any  name  from  either;  to  place  the  living  among  the  dead  that  he  may 
die;  or  the  dead,  that  is,  the  person  condemned  to  death,  among  the  living,  that 
he  may  be  preserved.  Thus  he  blots  out  of  the  book  of  life,  or  the  book  of  death, 
according  to  his  Sovereign's  pleasure,  or  the  representation  of  his  Ministers, 
or  the  intercession  of  friends,  &c.  An  ancient,  extremely  rich  picture,  in  my 
own  possession,  representing  this  circumstance,  painted  in  China,  was  thus 
interpreted  to  me  by  a  native  of  China." — Adam  Clarke  in  loco. 


32  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

righteous  of  the  house  of  Israel,  they  shall  not  be  written." 
Against  the  enemies  of  Messiah,  just  this  very  woe  is  de- 
nounced. Psalm  Ixix.  26,  2S.  "Let  their  habitation  be  deso- 
late, and  let  none  dwell  in  their  tents,  &c.  Let  them  be  blot- 
ted out  of  the  book  of  the  living,  and  not  be  written  with  the 
righteous."  While  therefore,  the  Jews  have  only  tradition  to 
support  their  notion  of  a  periodical  posting  and  balancing  of 
the  books,  yet  must  the  book  of  life  be  an  ever-varying  re- 
cord, not  detailing  the  names  of  those,  who  have  secretly  been 
chosen  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  but  of  those,  who,  by 
works  are  manifested  to  be  such.  They  who  overcome,  are 
they  alone  who  shall  never  be  blotted  out  from  thence.  Rev. 
iii.  5.  Herein  it  differs  from  the  registry  contained  on  Jeho- 
vah's palms,  to  which  reference  is  had,  in  Rev.  xvii.  8.  So 
that  at  no  two  periods  could  it  contain  the  same  catalogue  of 
persons.  Opened  at  Armageddon,  it  would  present  a  much 
narrower  amount  of  the  living  saved,  than  what  it  will  do,  when 
opened  at  the  expiration  of  the  thousand  years.  Frightful  was 
the  obliteratioa  of  names  from  that  book,  when  the  deluge 
swept  all  the  ungodly  of  the  earth,  and  meagre,  very  meagre 
was  the  roll  it  contained  then  of  living  souls.  Woe  is  me — an- 
other day  yet  more  terrific  is  hastening  on,  when  Jehovah, 
upon  the  full  developement  of  Antichrist,  shall  proceed  to  ex- 
punge from  thence,  by  one  dread  sweep  of  his  obliterating  pen. 
the  names  of  all  the  deluded  votaries  of  the  embodied  Dragon. 
May  we  be  found  watching! — In  order  to  have  established 
any  thing  from  the  argument  drawn  from  the  reference  to  this 
book,  in  Rev.  xx.  11,  15,  it  should  have  been  proved  that  the 
Book  of  life  is  only  to  be  opened  once; — that  it  is  to  be  spread 
open  to  the  gaze,  and  for  the  information  of  all  the  living,  and 
of  all  the  dead; — and  that  all  the  living,  and  all  the  dead,  from 
the  beginning  of  the  creation  to  the  close  of  all  things,  are  in- 
cluded in  the  registry.  But  we  are  not  told  that  this  is  the  only 
juncture,  upon  which  reference  is  to  be  had  to  this  book  of 
doom.  We  learn  that  it  is  spread  open  before  the  Judge,  and 
not  before  those,  who  arc  arraigned  at  his  bar.  While  so  far 
are  we  from  being  told,  that  all  who  are  then  alive,  and  all  who 
had  ever  died,  shall  then  be  judged  according  to  their  works, 
the  judgment  is  expressly  limited  to  the  dead  small  and  great, 
the  small  and  great  who  are  then  dead,  to  the  exclusion  alto- 
gether, of  those  who  are  alive.  If  the  saints  at  that  time  stand 
before  the  bar.  as  argued  from  the  book  of  life  being  opened, 
they  must  then  be  included  amongst  the  dead  small  and 
great.  But  when  Christ  comes,  they  will  come  with  him,  not 
as  the  dead,  but  as  the  reawakened  sleepers,  and  as  the  changed 
living.     They  are  clearly,  therefore,  not  included  in  the  de- 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  33 

scription.  Two  reasons,  which  we  have  chiefly  anticipated, 
were  urged  by  Mr.  Gipps,  in  confirmation  of  his  view. — First, 
having  stated  the  circumstances  of  Christ's  coming,  &c.  he  adds, 
"it  is  utterly  inconceivable  to  me  that  all  this  glory  can  be 
conferred  upon  the  saints,  and  such  a  manifestation  of  them  be 
made  in  the  presence  of  Christ,  of  all  the  holy  angels,  of  one  an- 
other, and  of  all  the  ungodly  living  in  every  part  of  the  earth  one 
moment  before  what  is  called  the  opening  of  the  book  of  life." 
It  is  no  argument,  as  applied  to  revelation,  that  any  portion  of 
what  God  has  been  pleased  to  communicate  of  his  purposes,  to 
his  creatures,  is  inconceivable  to  any  or  to  all  of  them.  That 
which  occasioned  the  difficulty  of  conception  in  this  case,  how- 
ever, was  the  misapprehension  of  what  was  meant  by  the  open- 
ing of  the  book  of  life — and  by  the  book  of  life  itself.  Again, 
although  the  glory,  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us,  will  be  visi- 
ble to  the  ungodly,  it  is  not  before  the  ungodly,  dead,  or  liv- 
ing, but  before  the  father  and  his  angels,  Christ  has  promised 
to  confess  those,  whom  he  will  not  blot  out  of  the  book  of  life. 
Rev.  iii.  5.  But  we  have  still  to  consider  the  other  reason. 
"Secondly.- — It  is  expressly  set  forth  that  the  manifestation  of 
the  sons  of  God  will  take  place  at  their  resurrection.  Rom.  viii. 
19,  23.  As  therefore,  I  am  convinced  that  this  manifestation 
cannot  take  place  before  the  book  of  life  is  opened,  in  which 
their  names  are  written,  but  must  be  the  same  as  the  discovery 
of  those  who  are  written  therein,  I  feel  assured,  that  the  resur- 
rection of  the  saints  will  be  at  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the 
hook  of  life,  and  not  at  the  resurrection.' '  I  could  not  desire  a 
more  convincing  passage  to  disprove  the  scheme  which  Mr. 
Gipps  thus  vindicated,  than  the  passage  to  which  he  has  here 
referred  us.  Strange  that  he  should  have  endeavoured  to  make 
the  judgment  before  the  great  white  throne,  synchronize  with 
the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God.  Rom.  viii.  19,23.  The 
judgment  before  the  great  white  throne,  in  his  view  of  it,  coin- 
cided with  the  conflagration  of  the  world;  its  actual  annihila- 
tion;— but  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,  according  to 
St.  Paul,  is  so  far  from  being  coetaneous  with  the  dissolution  of 
the  frame  of  nature,  that  he  describes  that  event  as  introduc- 
tory to  the  deliverance  of  creation  from  her  involuntary  bon- 
dage to  corruption,  the  sigji  for  which  she  longeth,  in  this  season 
of  her  travail  pains,  as  the  assurance  of  her  approaching  ex- 
emption from  all  physical  and  moral  evil  by  sin  engendered.'* 
8.  The  argument  from  authority,  as  shewing  the  judgment 
of  the  primitive  church,  has  been  drawn  from  the  three  ancient 
creeds,  called  the  Apostles',  Nicene,  and  Athanasian.  What  the 
judgment  of  the  church  in  those  days  really  was  cannot  be 

*  See  Appendix. 
VOL.  III. — 2S 


34  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

learned  from  these  sources.  Those  creeds  do  not  express  the 
idea  that  at  the  very  monaent  of  Christ's  re-appearing  he  will 
judge  all  the  living  and  all  the  dead.  They  simply  express  the 
idea,  as  doth  the  Scripture,  that  he  will  come  for  this  purpose, 
but  do  not  undertake  to  specify  either  the  order  or  the  dura- 
tion of  the  judgment.  In  fact  they  confine  themselves  as  much 
as  possible  to  the  very  words  of  Scripture  and  oifer  nothing  in 
the  way  of  exposition.  It  is  not,  however,  from  the  translation 
of  these  creeds,  that  we  can  so  easily  determine  the  point,  as 
from  an  inspection  of  the  Greek  originals.  In  the  Apostles' 
Creed  it  is  said,  "from  thence  he  shall  come  to  judge  both  the 
quick  and  the  dead."  /utAKetip^io-Sa.mpivu.t ^aiv-rxc  nai  vaipov;.  He  is  about 
to  come  to  judge  living  ones  and  dead  ones.  This  corresponds 
verbatim  with  the  words  of  1  Tim.  iv.  1.  (rou /uixkovto;  npivnv  ^wra.^ 
jcxt  Y&cfov;.)  But  herein  we  have  only  an  expression  of  his  pur- 
pose to  execute  the  office  whereunto  he  is  appointed  as,  (;t/imc 
^wVTav now v6Jt/)a)v,)  judge  of  living  ones  and  dead  ones.  Acts  x.  42. 
But  that  the  creed  itself,  or  the  Scriptures,  from  which  the 
words  of  the  creed  are  taken,  express  an  instantaneous  judg- 
ment of  all  the  living  and  of  all  the  dead,  on  his  appearing,  is 
certainly  not  the  case.  I  find  his  coming  to  judge  the  living 
detailed  at  length  in  the  third  and  fourth  chapters  of  the  pro- 
phet Malachi.  There  is  there  no  notice  of  the  dead,  as  simul- 
taneously called  to  judgment,  and  much  is  related  of  the  puri- 
fication of  Levi,  of  the  conversion  of  Israel,  of  the  fertilization 
of  their  land  and  of  other  matters,  which  evince  that  the  day 
of  his  coming,  though  dreadful  in  its  dawn  to  the  proud  and 
those  who  do  wickedly,  will  be  attended  with  the  most  gra- 
cious results  to  earth;  and  that  though  it  will  be  ushered  in 
with  speed,  by  his  suddenly  appearing  in  his  temple,  it  will  be 
mercifully  protracted  to  pour  out  a  blessing  from  the  open  win- 
dows of  heaven.  I  might  pass  through  all  the  prophets,  and 
show  from  their  concurrent  testimony,  that  the  appearing  of 
our  great  God  and  Saviour,  as  described  by  them,  is  ever  set 
forth  as  leading  to  many  and  wonderful  results,  atTecting  our 
world,  as  ushering  in  a  long  reign  of  righteousness,  and  the  con- 
tinuous unintermilted  exercise  of  true  judgment.  When,  there- 
fore, I  express  my  belief  that  Christ  will  come  to  judge  the  liv- 
ing, I  express  my  belief  that  he  will  come  to  execute  all  that 
judgment  on,  and  to  exercise  all  that  justice  in  the  earth,  which 
the  prophets  assure  me  he  will  do.  It  must  be  shewn  there- 
fore, from  other  evidence  than  that  contained  in  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  that  the  primitive  church  put  a  different  construction 
upon  such  Scriptures  as  these,  than  what  I  and  other  Mille- 
narians  are  induced  to  do.  The  same  remarks  apply  to  the 
JVicene  creed,  where,  however,  it  is  additionally  stated,  that 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  35 

Christ  will  come  with  glory  to  judge  living  ones  and  dead 
ones,  and  that  his  kingdom  shall  have  no  end,  which  is  quoted 
from  Luke  i.  33;  but  this  does  not  apply  to  the  present  point. 
But  in  the  Alhanasian  creed  this  further  remark  is  added,  "at 
whose  coming  all  men  shall  rise  again,  with  their  bodies,  and 
shall  give  an  account  of  their  own  works."  This  might  seem 
at  first  view  to  intimate  the  simultaneous  resurrection  of  all 
mankind  at  the  very  moment  of  the  Saviour's  appearing — at 
his  coming  being  an  expression  that  seems  equivalent  to  the 
juncture  of  his  arrival,  but  in  the  Greek  the  words  are  Ovn 

TTsifiova-iet  TravTi;  01  nvBjiaiTrot  etyua-THa-ovriii.       Now   the  WOrd  Trafova-ia.  doCS   tiot 

imply  the  mere  notion  of  his  arrival  but  the  fact  of  his  being 
present.  In  this  sense  we  meet  with  it,  Thess.  ii.  19,  are  not 
evefi  ye  i/x^pcarSiv  before  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  «v  t«  autou  Tntfcva-ni.,  in  his 
presence.  It  is  not  doubted,  by  any,  that  during  the  presence 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  all  human  kind  shall  stand  forth,  and 
give  account  of  the  things  done  in  the  body.  In  conclusion  I 
would  remark,  that  the  circumstance  of  Christ  being  the  judge 
of  the  quick  and  the  dead,  derives  much  light  from  the  parallel 
statement  in  Rom.  xiv.  9.  To  this  end  Christ  both  died,  and 
rose,  and  revived,  tva.  Kitmnfim  km  ^mrcev  nv^rnvtm,  that  he  might  exer- 
cise LORDSHIP  over  both  dead  and  living  ones.  (Compare  Luke 
xxii.  25,  where  it  is  used  to  signify  the  exercise  of  royal  au- 
thority by  the  kings  of  the  Gentiles.)  This  gives  the  true  idea 
of  his  being  appointed  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead.  His 
being  appointed  to  this  office  is  no  more  than  what  he  said  him- 
self, "I  appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom  as  my  Father  had  appointed 
unto  me,"  Luke  xxii.  25.  It  is  remarkable  that  this  informa- 
tion was  graciously  vouchsafed  to  them  on  the  very  occasion, 
when  he  spake  of  the  present  exercise  of  authority  by  the  Gen- 
tile Kings,  in  opposition  to  which  they  were  to  stand  forth  in 
living  contrast,  as  those  that  serve;  the  thrones,  upon  which 
they  were  to  sit  judging  the  tzvelve  tribes  of  Israel,  being  reserved 
for  another  dispensation,  in  which  he  also  shall  judge  and  reign. 
I  might  rebut  the  argument  from  authority  still  further  by  ap- 
pealing to  the  ample  testimonies  of  Justin  Martyr,  Irenseus, 
and  Origen,  but  this  has  amply  been  done  already,  and  I  de- 
cline therefore  entering  upon  it. 


35  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 


LETTER  IL 

Parables. — Wheat  and  Tares— Criticism  on  the  expression  Kingdom  of  Hea- 
ven, illustrated  by  grain  of  mustard  seed — Confounding  the  judgment  on  the 
■wicked  quick,  and  on  the  wicked  dead,  cause  of  error — Harvest  and  Vin- 
tage, Joel  ii.  3,  11.— The  Draw  Net— The  Marriage  Supper — Talents- 
Judgment,  illustrated  by  reference  to  Dan.  vii.  13 — The  words  Nations — 
Saints  explained — Goals  and  Sheep,  Ezek.  xxxiv.  10,  31.     Mic.  iv.  6,  8. 

The  second  chapter  of  Mr.  Gipps'  book  is  valuable  for  the 
example  it  affords  of  an  appeal  to  that  part  of  Scripture,  (the 
Parables)  which  the  opposers  of  Christ's  personal  reign  on  earth 
with  his  saints,  generally  avoid  upon  the  plea  that  no  argument 
can  be  drawn  from  them.  The  success  which  has  attended  our 
excellent  author's  excursion  into  the  region  of  parable,  has  by 
no  means  equalled  the  boldness  of  the  attempt,  or  the  excel- 
lence of  the  design. 

WHEAT  AND  TARES. 

He  commences  with  the  parable  of  the  wheat  and  the  tares. 
Most  unpropitious  is  the  result.  In  opposition  to  the  points  he 
has  collected  out  of  this  instructive  discourse,  I  gather  the  fol- 
lowing:— The  period  at  which  the  action  of  the  parable  is  laid 
is  the  end  of  the  age  (st/^w?) — the  field  that  is  then  reaped  is  the 
world  {Koa/moi)  and  not  Hades.  Of  the  generations  who  had 
previously  passed  away,  or  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  just 
or  unjust,  not  one  syllable  is  said — the  scene  of  the  Son  of 
Man's  kingdom,  or  the  territory  it  is  to  embrace,  is  the  world, 
the  field  that  is  to  be  reaped,  (the  doers  of  iniquity  are  to  be 
gathered  out  of  his  kingdom,  v.  41,)  the  reapers  are  the  mes- 
sengers of  the  Son  of  Man  himself,  and  not  of  the  Father,  be- 
fore whom  he  will  confess  his  own  faithful  confessors;  the 
world  is  not  only  here  represented  as  the  kingdom  of  the  Son, 
the  visible  administrator  of  divine  sovereignty  for  the  Father, 
but  also  as  the  scene  over  which  the  righteous  shall  exercise 
power,  ''then  shall  the  righteous  shine  forth  as  the  Sun  in  the 
kingdom  of  their  Father."  Remember  our  daily  prayer — 
"thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done  on  earth,  &c.  The  king- 
dom of  heaven,  in  this  parable,  is  resembled  not  to  the  world, 
nor  to  the  tares,  nor  yet  to  the  sowers,  but  to  the  gathered 
wheat — the  righteous  in  their  manifested  glory  as  the  Sun,  the 
well  known  symbol  of  supreme  power. 

I  beg  to  observe  that  /3*3-<\s;o  denotes  the  regia  potestas,  or  su- 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  37 

preme  power,  as  well  as  the  regniim  or  kingdom.  For  this  use 
of  the  term  Scapula  refers  to  Plato  and  Xenophon.  This  is  the 
sense  in  which  I  believe  it  to  be  chiefly  employed  in  Scripture, 
but  particularly  in  the  parables.  By  the  kingdom  of  ihe  heavens, 
I  therefore  understand  the  supernal  rulers.  It  must,  for  in- 
stance, be  so  considered  in  the  parable,  immediately  following, 
of  the  grain  of  mustard  seed.  The  church  seminally  contained 
in  and  undergoing  death  with  Jesus,  gradually  developed  and 
producing  fruit  till  it  acquires  its  full  maturity,  is  then  pre- 
sented to  view  not  as  being  subjected  itself  to  authority,  but  as 
affording  protection  to  the  fowl  of  heaven.  It  is  the  very  coun- 
terpart of  Nebuchadnezzar's  tree,  which  was  interpreted  of  him- 
self as  the  supreme  ruler,  Dan.  iv.  22,  23.  As  men  are  sym- 
bolized by  seed  in  the  parable  of  the  wheat  and  tares,  so  here 
the  mustard-seed  is  the  seed  of  the  woman,  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham, and  the  tree  Christ  himself  and  his  spiritual  branches — 
see  John  xii.  24.  It  will  be  material  to  bear  these  remarks  in 
mind,  as  also  the  following  observation  of  Schleusner  on  the 
word  fista-iKua.  7.    ponitur  pro  liio-iKiu?  rex,   abstracto  posito   pro 

concrete;     Mark    xi.    10.    m^oyn^ivyi  n  ip;)(^cjuiv>i  0A'7iKiiii  th  Trctrpog  yi/Acev  ^ct^J; 

coll.  Luke  xix.  38.  luxoyn/ufvo; 6  ip;)^ojuiv»  0cii7tMu;  Apoc.  i.  6,  &c.  Eadem 
modo  iip-xnv/A.a.  pro  tifiug  ponitur  1  Pet.  ii.  5,  9. 

It  having  been  a  mere  assumption  that  the  parable  related  to 
the  resurrection,  while  it  could  only  concern  the  rapture  of  the 
saints,  his  first  inference  falls  to  the  ground,  as  does  also  the  ^e- 
co7}d.  But  I  observe,  that  with  regard  to  this  parable  and  his 
inferences  from  many  other  parables,  he  was  deceived  by  the 
analogy  between  the  judgment  on  the  ungodly  living  at  Arma- 
geddon, and  on  the  wicked  dead  before  the  white  throne.  The 
devil,  who  deceived  the  nations  after  the  thousand  years  were 
ended,  is  represented  as  being  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire,  where 
the  beast  and  the  false  prophet  were  thrown  before  the  thou- 
sand years  began.  There  are,  therefore,  two  different  com- 
mittals to  this  lake.  Of  the  first  we  have  not  only  the  record 
in  Rev.  xix.  20,  but  in  a  great  variety  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  particularly  Isa.  Ixvi.  16,  24;  Zech.  xiv.  12.  The 
mere  circumstance,  therefore,  of  a  judgment  being  mentioned 
which  may  correspond  with  either  of  these,  is  not  sufficient  in 
itself  to  determine  to  which  of  these  events  it  refers.  If  it  be 
a  judgment  on  the  living,  it  must  be  referred  to  Armageddon; 
if  it  be  a  judgment  on  the  dead  it  must  be  referred  to  the  great 
white  throne.  Now  in  the  parable  of  the  tares  and  wheat  it 
is  evidently  the  living  at  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  Man,  who  are  described  as  the  subjects  of  the  judgment; 
this  will  appear  not  only  from  what  has  been  already  remarked, 
but  also  from  a  prophetic  coincidence  Mr.  Gipps  failed  to  no- 
28* 


33  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

tice.  That  coincidence  is  the  vision  of  the  zvhite  cloud  with 
Ihe  Son  of  Man  seated  thereon,  and  the  description  of  the  har- 
vest and  vintage  which  ensues,  Rev.  xiv.  14,  16.  While  one 
angel  reaps  the  harvest,  another  gathers  the  vine  of  the  earth 
by  the  command  of  him  who  has  power  overjire,  and  casts  the 
ripe  clusters  into  the  great  winepress  of  the  wrath  of  God. — 
Again  I  meet  with  an  intimation  of  a  judgment  described  with 
similar  imagery  and  corresponding  in  point  of  time  in  Joel  iii. 
When  the  wonders  described  in  the  preceding  chapter  are 
brought  to  pass,  the  sun  darkened  and  the  moon  converted  into 
blood,  (by  which  symbols  I  understand  the  obscuration  of  the 
Sun  of  righteousness  during  the  reign  of  the  personal  Anti- 
christ— and  thesynchronical  martyrdom  of  the  church,  i?i  those 
days,  and  in  that  time  when  the  captivity  of  Judah  shall  be  re- 
stored, then  it  is  written  "I  will  gather  all  nations,  and  will 
bring  them  down  into  the  valley  of  Jehosaphat,  and  will  plead 
with  them  there,  for  my  people,  and  for  my  heritage  Israel, 
whom  they  have  scattered  among  the  nations,  and  parted  my 
land,"  v.  2.  The  Prophet  having  adverted  to  some  prelimi- 
nary events,  issues  the  summons  for  this  fearful  gathering  of 
the  nations,  and  adds,  "assemble  yourselves,  and  come  all  ye 
lieathen,  and  gather  yourselves  together  round  about:  thither 
cause  thij  mighty  ones  to  come  down  0  Lord.  Let  the  heathen 
be  wakened,  and  come  up  to  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat:  for 
there  will  I  sit  to  judge  all  the  heathen  round  about.  Put  ye 
in  the  sickle,  for  the  harvest  is  ripe,  come,  get  you  down,  for  the 
press  is  full,  the  fats  overflow;  for  their  wickedness  is  great.  Mul- 
titudes, multitudes  in  the  valley  of  decision ;  for  the  day  of  the 
Lord  is  near,  in  the  valley  of  decision.  The  sun  and  the  moon 
shall  be  darkened,  and  the  stars  shall  withdraw  their  shining. 
The  LoKD  also,  shall  roar  out  of  Zion,  and  utter  his  voice  from 
Jerusalem;  and  the  heavens  and  the  earth  shall  shake,  but  the 
Lord  will  be  the  hope  of  his  people,  and  the  strength  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel.  So  shall  ye  know  that  I  am  the  Lord,  your  God, 
dwelling  in  Zion,  my  holy  mountain;  then  shall  Jerusalem  be 
holy,  and  there  shall  no  strangers  pass  through  her  any  more. 
And  it  sliall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  the  mountains  shall 
drop  down  new  wine,  and  the  hills  shall  flow  with  milk,  and 
all  the  rivers  of  Judah  shall  flow  with  waters,  and  a  fountain 
shall  come  forth  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  shall  water  the 
valley  of  Shittim.  Egypt  shall  be  a  desolation,  and  Edom 
shall  be  a  desolate  wilderness,  for  the  violence  against  the  chil- 
dren of  Judah,  because  they  have  shed  innocent  blood  in  their 
land.  But  Judah  shall  dwell  for  ever,  and  Jerusalem  from 
generation  to  generation.  For  1  will  cleanse  their  blood  that 
I  have  not  cleansed,  for  the  Lord  dwelleth.  in  Zion."   11,  21. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  39 

Now  from  this  prophecy  I  gather  the  following  information. 
At  the  time  of  Israel's  restoration,  there  is  to  be  a  judicial  har- 
vest and  vintage,  corresponding  with  the  judgment  on  the 
tares;  the  Gentile  nations,  of  whom  Egypt  and  Edom  are  par- 
ticularly noticed,  are  to  be  cut  off,  for  their  violence  against 
Judah,  and  the  innocent  blood  they  have  shed;  the  agents  in 
the  execution  of  this  judgment,  are  to  be  the  mighty  ones  of  Je- 
hovah— Jesus,  the  hope  and  strength  of  Israel,  corresponding 
with  the  messengers  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  the  parable  of  the 
wheat  and  the  tares,  with  the  impalpable  and  immaterial  hosts  of 
the  Lords,  commonly  but  improperly  called  locusts,  who  come 
as  a  thief  and  before  whom  a  fire  burneth,  described  Joel  ii.  3, 
8 — 1 1 — with  the  sanctified  ones,  the  mighty  ones, ybr  Jeho- 
vah's a^/o-er  ot/jo  rey'oice  i?i  his  highness,  and  who,  with  the  noise  of 
a  multitudinous  host,  mustered  by  Jehovah  for  the  battle,  come 
against  Babylon,  "from  a  far  country,  from  the  end  of  heaven, 
even  Jehovah  and  the  weapons  of  his  indignation,  to  destroy  the 
whole  land,"  or,  "all  the  wickedof  the  earth"  as  the  Targum.Isai. 
xiii.  2 — 5,  comp.  Isa.  xxxiii.  4;  Psalm  cxlix.  5 — 9;  Mai.  iv.  3. 
The  symbolical  heavens  are  to  be  eclipsed — Jehovah  is  then  to 
take  up  his  permanent  abode  in  Zion — strangers  shall  no  more 
make  a  thoroughfare  of  Jerusalem — exuberant  fertility  shall 
distinguish  the  whole  of  the  promised  territory — a  stream 
which  takes  its  rise  in  the  Lord's  house,  shall  water  the  valley 
of  Shittim,  corresponding  with  that  foretold,  Ezek.  xlvii.  1  — 
5.  The  Jews  sliall  uninterruptedly  enjoy  their  own  land  for 
ever,  the  blood  of  Messiah,  which  they  invoked  on  their  own 
nation,  and  for  the  shedding  of  which  they  have  already  suf- 
fered so  fearfully,  shall  at  length  be  cleansed;  and  Jehovah 
dwell  in  Zion,  a  fact  from  which  the  city  shall  thenceforth  take 
its  very  name.  Ezek.  xlviii.  35.  I  have  been  thus  particular 
in  recapitulating  the  evidence  contained  in  this  prediction,  be- 
cause it  not  only  affirms  that  the  harvest  and  vintage  concern 
the  living  nations,  who  shall  be  gathered  in  the  valley  of  Je- 
hoshaphat,  but  because  the  consequences  to  Edom,  Egypt,  Pa- 
lestine, and  the  Jewish  Jeople,  are  such,  as  to  forbid  that  the 
idea,  for  a  single  moment,  should  be  entertained,  that  the  judg- 
ment could  be  followed  by  the  conflagration  of  the  globe,  or 
the  annihilation  of  the  world. 

But  before  I  leave  this  parable,  I  have  another  remark  to 
make  on  the  strange  inconsistency,  into  which  Mr.  Gipps  fell, 
in  his  anxiety  to  make  out  his  anti-millenarian  scheme.  The 
wheat  and  tares,  which  according  to  him  are  all  the  godly,  and 
all  the  ungodly  of  all  ages,  remain  unsevered  till  the  end  of  the 
age;  yet  in  describing  the  separate  stale,  in  order  to  mark  the 
distinction  between  the  resurrection  of  the  just  and  the  unjust, 


40  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

he  speaks  of  the  great  mass  of  both,  (and  justly,)  as  having 
previously  been  severed,  the  just  being  with  Christ,  the  unjust 
being  in  wretchedness;  but  the  parable  knows  nothing  of  any, 
save  those  who  remain  unsevered  up  to  that  period.  It  can- 
not therefore,  mean  to  describe  those  who  have  gone  down  to 
the  regions  of  the  dead. 

THE  DRAW  NET. 

This  parable  has  been  similarly  misapprehended.  The  no- 
tion of  a  resurrection  is  here  again  assumed.  All  that  we  are 
taught  is,  that,  at  the  consummatio?!  of  the  age,  there  will  a  sepa- 
ration of  the  wicked  from  among  the  just.  The  good  fish  hav- 
ing been  gathered  into  vessels,  as  into  a  place  of  security,  the 
bad,  heaped  indiscriminately  together,  without  any  redeeming 
admixture,  are  cast  away.  It  was  thus  also,  in  the  case  of  the 
tares,  they  too  were  first  collected  into  bundles,  preparatory  to 
the  burning,  while  the  wheat  is  safely  housed  in  the  barn.  Is 
not  all  this  the  very  counterpart  of  what  the  pj-ophet  taught  of 
old?  Having  promised  to  labouring  Judah,  the  resurrection  of 
her  faithful  progenitors  now  sleeping  in  the  dust,  who  shall 
awake  and  sing,  their  dew  being  as  the  very  dew  of  the  dawn, 
seeing  the  land  shall  then  cast  out  her  Rephairn,.  (giants)  he  im- 
mediately addresses  the  living  just  of  Judah.  "Come,  my 
people,. enter  thou  into  thy  chambers,  and  shut  thy  doors  about 
thee;  hide  thyself  as  it  were,  for  a  little  moment,  until  the  in- 
dignation be  overpast.  For  behold,  the  Lord  cometh  out  of 
his  place  to  punish  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  for  their  ini- 
quity, the  earth  also  shall  disclose  her  blood,  and  shall  no  more 
cover  her  slain.  In  that  day,  the  Lord,  witii  his  sore,  and 
great,  and  strong  sword  shall  punish  Leviathan  the  piercing 
serpent,  (Antichrist)  even  Leviathan  that  crooked  serpent,  and 
he  shall  slay  the  dragon  that  is  in  the  sea."  (Egypt,  the  king 
of  the  South.)  Isa.  xxvi.  19 — 21;  xxvii.  1.  Now  mark  what 
follows,  the  responsive  song  of  the  vineyard  is  sung  in  that 
DAY,  V.  2. — which  is  thus  closed  by  Jehovah,  "they  that  come 
of  the  root  of  Jacob  shall  flourish:  Israel  shall  blossom  and 
bud,  and  fill  the  face  of  the  world  with  fruit,"  v.  6. — the  de- 
fenced  citij  shall  be  desolated,  and  left  as  a  wilderness,  v.  10. 
<'And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  in  that  day,  that  the  Lord  shall 
make  a  gathering  of  his  fruit  from  the  channel  of  the  river, 
unto  the  stream  of  Egypt,  and  ye  shall  be  gleaned  up  one  by 
one,  0  ye  children  of  Israel,  not  for  faggots  of  burning,  but  for 
blessing,"  v.  12,  Furthermore,  "it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that 
DAY,  that  the  great  Trumpet,  (that  of  Jubilee)  shall  be  blown, 
and  they  shall  come,  which  were  ready  to  perish  in  the  land  of 
Assyria, and  the  outcasts  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  shall  worship 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  41 

the  Lord  in  the  holy  mount,  at  Jerusalem,"  v.  13.  Thus, 
then  there  will  be  a  resurrection,  like  the  dew  of  the  dawn,  at 
what  time,  Jehovah,  safe  housing  his  people,  shall  punish  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth,  leagued  with  Leviathan;  mercy  shall 
then  be  vouchsafed  to  Israel — her  children  shall  be  gathered 
out  of  all  nations,  according  to  that  which  was  before  promised, 
Deut.  XXX.  4,  and  her  outcasts  shall  come  from  Assyria  and. 
Egypt,  to  worship  Jehovah  in  Jerusalem. 

Mr.  Gipps  here  again  assumes  that  the  Angeli  are  those, 
whom  we  commonly  call  angels,  I  wish  this  word  were  al- 
ways rendered  messengers — it  would  often  prevent  misappre- 
hension— I  am  convinced  that  these  messengers  are  the  saints, 
with  whom  the  Lord  my  God  shall  come,  the  white  robed 
warriors  on  white  horses,  who  follow  the  Word  of  God,  when 
he  goeth  forth  to  the  slaughter  of  his  enemies.  Rev.  xix.  14. 
Again  he  assumes  that  the  casting  of  the  wicked  into  the  fur- 
nace of  fire,  is  the  same  event  with  "the  casting  into  the  lake 
of  fire"  of  all  who  "are  not  written  in  the  book  of  life."  Rev. 
,xx.  15.  But  as  those,  who  are  there  described  as  being  cast 
into  the  lake  of  fire,  are  the  risen  dead,  and  those  who  are 
drawn  to  shore  in  the  draw  net,  must  be  those,  who  are  living 
at  the  consiimmatio7i  of  the  age,  for  two  reasons,  presently  to  be 
noticed;  I  argue  that  the  casting  of  the  wicked  into  the  furnace 
of  fire,  as  described  in  the  parable,  must  be  the  same  with  the 
casting  alive  of  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet,  against  whom, 
the  word  of  God  goeth  forth  to  war,  into  the  lake  of  fire,  burn- 
ing with  brimstone.  Rev.  xix.  20.  One  reason,  which  leads 
me  to  conclude,  that  the  captured  fish  represent  the  living  at 
the  period  specified,  is,  that  they  remain  unsevered  till  that 
period,  whereas,  the  dead  in  going  down  to  Hades,  are  actually 
severed  upon  their  entrance  into  the  invisible  world.  A  second 
reason,  which  operates  with  me,  in  arriving  at  this  conviction, 
is,  that  the  fish  are  not  represented  as  having  been  dead,  and. 
then  restored  to  life,  but,  on  the  contrary,  as  being  all  brought 
alive  out  of  their  natural  element,  to  the  shore;  and  as  having 
been  drawn  in  thither,  not  by  any  murderous  mode  of  capture, 
which  might  of  itself,  deprive  of  life,  but  by  a  net,  which  in- 
jureth  not,  and  which  is  constantly  employed,  in  order  to  re- 
move fish,  in  an  unharmed  state,  from  one  sheet  or  stream  of 
water,  to  another. 

THE  MARRIAGE  SUPPER.       Mat.  Xxii.  1,   14. 

In  Mr.  Gipps'  remarks  on  the  close  of  this  parable,  we  meet 
with  many  unfounded  assumptions,  which  are  essential  to  his 
system  of  interpretation.  1. — He  assumes  it  to  be  the  Bride- 
groom who  comes  in  to  see  the  guests,  v.  11,  but  of  the  bride- 


42  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

groom  no  mention  is  made  throughout  the  parable,  except  in 
the  second  verse.  "The  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a 
king,  which  made  a  marriage  for  his  Son."  The  Son  was  the 
Bridegroom,  but  of  the  actual  appearance  of  the  Son  at  the 
feast,  no  account  is  given.  It  was  the  king,  and  not  the  Son, 
who  made  this  preparatory  survey  of  the  guests,  and  corre- 
sponds with  Dan.  vii.  9.  2. — He  assumes,  that  the  man  with- 
out the  wedding  garment  is  the  representative  of  all  mere  nomi- 
nal professors,  who  have  not  put  on  Christ,  of  all  ages,  who 
have  succeeded  in  deceiving  the  servants  (S'^ukcv;)  of  Christ,  or 
his  ministers,  and  who  must  therefore  be  raised,  in  order  to  be 
judged.  It  might  be  enough  to  say  in  the  phrase  of  the  Scot- 
tish law,  "not  proven,"  but  we  have  abundant  evidence  from 
the  parable  itself,  that  this  unmeetly  garmented  man  is  not  the 
representative  of  the  dead.  The  king  had  provided  the  mar- 
riage feast,  (ycijum)  the  nuptual  festivity,  as  evidenced  on  the 
Mount  of  Transfiguration,  for  his  Son,  and  therefore,  sent  he 
forth  his  servants,  John  possibly  and  his  disciples,  to  summon 
the  Jews — a  refusal  follows — and  other  servants,  the  70  disci- 
ples and  the  apostles,  renew  the  summons,  which  being  in  like 
manner  unheeded,  (while  the  messengers  themselves,  are  either 
persecuted  or  slain)  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  the  murderers,  is  de- 
stroyed and  burned  with  fire.  I  observe,  that  had  the  invita- 
tion been  accepted  by  the  Jews,  had  they  abandoned  the  habili- 
ments of  worldliness  and  hypocrisy,  had  they  at  once  adorned 
themselves  in  fitting  raiment  for  the  august  solemnity,  the  mar- 
riage,— the  solemnization  of  which,  was  strictly  dependant  on 
the  alternative  of  man's  evil, —  had  then  taken  place.  But  not 
seeing  the  glory  of  the  bridegroom,  nor  the  feast  actually  pre- 
pared, they  discredited  the  message,  and  involved  themselves 
in  those  national  calamities,  which  have  ever  since  rested  upon 
their  devoted  posterity.  The  portion  of  the  parable,  which  we 
have  thus  examined,  all  reiateth  to  men  of  Abraham's  lineage, 
in  proper  flesh  and  blood,  dwelling  on  earth's  surface,  and 
meeting  with  retribution  in  this  life.  Without  the  slightest 
intimation  of  any  change  of  scene,  we  are  next  presented  with 
the  mission  of  the  servants  to  the  highways,  not  of  Hades  as- 
suredly, but  of  the  Gentile  world.  They  succeed  in  collecting 
a  great  number,  good  and  bad,  on  whose  pretensions  they  de- 
cide not,  between  whom  they  make  no  separation,  and  all  of 
whom  profess  abundant  readiness  to  become  guests.  These 
assuredl)'  are  neither  disembodied  spirits,  nor  men  raised  from 
the  dead,  but  men  like  unto  the  Jews,  collected  by  mortal  ser- 
vants, similar  to  those  servants  (^ovmk,)  who  were  persecuted 
unto  the  death,  by  the  Jews.  Just  at  this  juncture,  when  the 
servants  have  accomplished  their  mission,  in  the  assembling  of 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  43 

a  large  company,  out  of  all  the  highways,  the  king  takes  his 
survey,  not  of  the  feast,  for  it  is  not  yet  spread  forth  to  view, 
though  all  the  preparations  for  it,  have  long  previously  heen 
made,  but  of  those  men  who  have  avowed  their  willingness  to 
partake  of  the  entertainment.     His  eye  immediately  discerns 
one,  who  is  without  the  nuptial  robe,  who  has  ventured  to  as- 
sociate himself  with  the  guests  in  his  own  raiment  of  worldli- 
ness  and  hypocrisy,  just  like  Ananias  and  Saphira.     His  rejec- 
tion follows.     Now  if  the  murderers,  whose  city  was  burned, 
were  mortal  men — if  the  places  they  scornfully  vacated,  were 
reserved  for  others,  mortal  like  themselves,  (see  Matt,  xvi.43.) 
we  are  accordingly  summoned  to  supply  their  room — if  the 
servants  who  deliver  the  summons,  and  those  who  professedly 
accept  it  are  all  mortal — if  the  mortal  servants  who  summon 
them,  can  only  gather  them  together  in  some  place  where  mor- 
tal men  can  be  gathered,  then  does  it  follow  that  the  ill  array- 
ed intruder  is  also  mortal,  seeing  he  has  taken  his  station  in 
the  place  where  the  servants  have  gathered  all  the  company, 
y.  10.     The  assembly  you  will  observe,  are  not  brought  in  by 
supernal  agents  before  the  king,  that  he  may  pass  judgment 
upon  their  pretensions,  but  he  himself  unexpectedly  comes  in 
to  take  this  view  of  them.     3. — Mr.  Gipps  next  assumes  that 
the  servants  (S'U^covot)  the  deacons,  who  are  commanded  to  exclude 
the  presumptuous  unprovided  guests,  are  the  angel-executioners 
of  the  judgment.      In  this  I  consider  him  to  be  mistaken.     As 
the  assembly  which  is  viewed,  is  the"  church  in   its  militant 
state,  collected  together  by  one  class  of  servants,  (the  J'oukoi);  so 
I  believe  the  Deacons  here,  to  be  another  class  of  ecclesiastical 
office-bearers,  who  at  the  time  of  the  end,  being  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  endowed  with  supernatural  discernment,  shall, 
by  express  revelation  from  the  Lord,  cast  out  the  evil  person 
or  persons,  (for  he  is  doubtless,  the  representative  of  a  class 
of  persons,)  from  communion.     4. — He  assumes  that  the  outer 
darkness  is  the  same  with  the  lake  of  fire.     Two   things   more 
dissimilar  than  oider  darkness  and  the  lake  of  fire,  cannot  well 
be  conceived.      If  the  view  I  have  given   above  of  this  most 
important    prediction    be    correct,  then    the    outer    darkness 
must  be  that,  which  is  outside  of  the  church,  even  that,  where- 
in the  votaries  of  Antichrist  shall  be  involved.     Now  it  is  not 
a  little  remarkable,  that  it  is  said  of  the  man  of  sin,  that  he 
shall  deceive  all  those  who  have   not  received  the  love  of  the 
truth,  that  they  might  be  saved,  while  it  is  added  that  "God 
shall  send  them  strong  delusion  that  they  should  believe  a  lie; 
that  they  all  might  be  damned  who  believe  not  the  truth,  but 
had  pleasure  in  unrighteousness."  2  Thess.  10 — 12.     Still  the 
ejection  of  an  outward  communicant  into  this  outer  darkness 


44  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

would  not  necessarily  Involve  his  final  perdition,  any  more  than 
the  disasters,  which  fell  upon  Judah  necessarily  involved,  the 
damnation  of  all  the  Jews,  whom  the  Romans  slew  or  dis- 
persed. It  might,  and  doubtless  would,  in  some  cases,  amount 
to  no  more  than  the  act  of  judicial  mercy  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances, commanded  (1  Cor.  v.  5.)  to  be  exercised.  In 
either  case  it  conveys  a  most  solemn  warning  to  us,  on  whom 
the  ends  of  the  world  are  come,  seeing  we  live  on  the  eve  of 
that  survey,  which  Jehovah  shall  thus  take  of  his  church,  and 
who  may,  notwithstanding  our  high  sounding  profession,  be 
consigned  to  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  If  found  finally 
in  this  condition,  our  situation  shall  be  fearful  indeed,  accord- 
ing as  it  is  written  in  that  remarkable  parallel  passage  Zeph.  i. 
7,  which,  with  its  context,  sheds  immense  light  upon  the  sub- 
ject. "The  Lord  hath  prepared  a  sacrifice,  he  hath  bid  his 
guests.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  day  of  the  Lord's 
sacrifice  that  I  will  punish  the  princes,  and  the  king's  children, 
and  all  such  as  are  clothed  with  strange  apparel."  "The  evil  ser- 
vants shall,  in  that  day,  be  punished  as  well  as  the  princes,"  v. 
9.  "A  cry  and  a  howling  shall  be  heard  from  the  gates,  and  a 
crashing  from  the  hills,"  v.  10.  "Jerusalem  shall  be  searched 
with  candles,"  v.  12.  "The  great  day  of  the  Lord  is  near,  near, 
and  hasteth  greatly:  the  voice  of  the  day  of  the  Lord:  the 
mighty  man  shall  cry  there  bitterly — that  day  is  a  day  of  wrath, 
a  day  of  trouble  and  distress,  a  day  of  wasteness  and  desolation, 
a  day  of  darkness  aiid  gloominess,  a  day  of  clouds  and  thick  dark- 
ness," V.  14,  15.  ^^And  I  will  bring  distress  upon  men  and  they  shall 
walk  like  blind  me?i  because  they  have  sinned  against  the  Lord," 
&c.  I  need  not  refer  to  the  points  of  resemblance — I  only 
observe  that  these  things  are  said  concerning  the  situation  of 
society  on  this  earth  immediately  preceding  the  last  tremen- 
dous crisis.  5. — Mr.  Gipps  further  assumes  tbat  the  parable 
represents  the  time  of  Christ's  second  coming  with  his  spouse 
the  church.  This  I  regard  as  the  most  extraordinary  assump- 
tion of  all.  We  have  before  seen  that  the  bridegroom  is  not 
noticed — neither  is  the  bride.  We  have  only  the  guests  de- 
scribed.— The  bride  is  not  even  by  implication  alluded  to. 

THE  TALENTS. Matt.    XXV.    14, 

In  his  exposition  of  this  parable  we  meet  just  the  same  kind 
of  assumptions  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Gipps.  1. — He  assumes 
the  resurrection  of  all  parties  who  are  reckoned  with — though 
not  a  syllable  is  to  be  met  with  throughout  it  concerning  the 
resurrection  of  any. — It  is  the  visible  church  alone  that  is  here 
described  as  reckoned  with — (all  the  dead,  small  and  great,  are 
not   summoned   before  him).     The  members  of  his   church, 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  45 

symbolized  by  his  own  servants,  are  solemnly  called  to  ac- 
count for  the  use  they  made  of  his  goods  during  his  absence — 
the  faithful  are  appointed  to  offices  of  trust  and  government 
over  the  cities  of  the  world,  (we  know  of  no  cities  beyond 
it,)  suited  to  their  characters,  proportioned  to  their  abilities, 
and  corresponding  with  their  past  employment  of  the  means 
of  usefulness  they  enjoyed.  Their  appointment  to  these  offices 
and  ?iot  their  actual  entrance  upon  them  is  all  that  is  here  de- 
scribed. The  recompense  of  the  reward  is  the  subject  of  the 
narrative.  One  alone,  who  wrapped  up  his  Lord's  talent  in  a 
napkin,  is  deprived  of  all  share  in  the  joy  of  his  Lord.  2. — 
This  servant  is  assumed,  as  in  the  case  of  the  man  without  the 
wedding  garment,  to  be  the  representative  of  all  the  ungodly 
of  all  ages.  But  when  we  consider  that,  even  within  the  limits 
of  the  Church,  many  are  called  but  few  chosen,  it  seems  strange 
that  the  many  should  here  stand  represented  as  being  only  ofie 
to  four.  But  thus  it  will  be  at  the  sifting  time.  The  nominal 
professors  will  drop  off  in  the  time  of  persecution  and  re- 
proach, when  they  have  no  longer  any  temporal  advantage  to 
gain,  while  the  solitary  unprofitable  servant,  who  refused  to 
exercise  his  gift,  though  he  remained  in  connection  with  the 
body,  shall  be  himself  cut  off  from  all  privileges  and  recom- 
pense by  the  direct  exercise  of  his  Lord's  power.  3. — His  ex- 
pulsion from  the  body,  his  jactation  into  the  outer  darkness  is 
assumed,  as  in  the  former  case,  to  denote  the  same  thing  as  the 
casting  of  all  the  ungodly  into  the  lake  of  fire.  We  need  not 
repeat  what  we  have  said  before  on  this  point. 

There  is  one  remark  I  must  add  before  I  leave  this  parable. 
The  Lord  coming  to  recko?i  with  his  servants  is  a  different 
thing  from  the  Lord  coming  to  7-eign  with  them.  When  they 
enter  i?ito  his  joy  they  shall,  indeed,  reign  with  him,  but  the 
scrutiny  which  takes  place  here  is  preparatory  to  it.  I  would 
make  this  parable  synchronize  with  the  sealing  of  the  144,000 
in  Revelations  vii.  4.  xiv.  I,  who  then  receive  their  appoint- 
ment to  office,  when  they  are  sealed. 

JUDGMENT  OF  THE  SHEEP  AND  GOATS. — Matt.  XXV.  31 — 46. 

This  prediction  is  one  of  immense  importance.  The  time 
to  which  it  relates  is  the  time,  in  which  the  Son  of  Man  shall 
come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him.  To  un- 
derstand the  parable  aright  it  is  material  to  ascertain  from  the 
light  of  the  other  Scriptures  what  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
Man  in  his  glory  denoteth;  for  the  language  of  Christ  here  is 
not  descriptive  of  the  epoch  itself,  but  only  of  an  event  con- 
nected with  it,  and  the  terms  actually  employed  suppose  that 
the  character  of  that  epoch  was  well  understood,  as  an  admit- 

voL.  III. — 29 


46  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

ted  matter  of  faith  by  his  auditors.     Now,  I  find  this  epoch 
marked  with   the  greatest  particularity  by  Daniel  vii.  13,  14, 
where,  having  previously  described  the  origin,  progress,  and 
fatal  end  of  the  four  great  Monarchies,   and  of  the   Gentile 
apostacy,  he  says,  "I  saw  in  the  night  visions,  and  behold  one 
like  the  Son  of  Man  came  with  the  clouds  of  Heaven,  and  came 
to  the  Ancient  of  days,  and  they  brought  him  near  before  him. 
And  there  was  given  him  dominion  and  glory,  and  a  king- 
dom., that  all  people,  nations  and  languages  should  serve  him; 
his  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  which  shall  not  pass 
away,  and  his  kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be  destro^yed." — 
From  which  I  gatlier,  that  when  he  comes  in  his  glory  he  shall 
succeed  to  universal  sovereignty,   obtain  the  greatness  of  the 
empire  forfeited  by  the  Beasts,  and  never  lose  it  like  them  by 
forfeiture.     Peoples,  natiojis,   and  languages  are  made  subser- 
vient to  him,  and  are  made  so  then  for  the  first  time.     The 
subdivisions  of  mankind  here  described  must  exist  in  order  to 
own  him  king,  but  those  subdivisions  are  peculiar  to  a  terres- 
trial condition,  and  it  is,  therefore,  men  as  inhabiting  the  world, 
who   shall  then  become  his  subjects.     It  is  under  these  very 
terms  Nebuchadnezzar  and  Darius  respectively  address  their 
subjects,  inscribing  their  decrees  to  all  peoples,  nations  and  lan- 
guages. Dan.  iii.  4;  vi.  25.     It  is  the  invariable  formula  em- 
ployed through  this  prophet  to  characterize  the  dwellers  upon 
earth,  who  were  subject  to  imperial  rule.     When,  therefore,  it 
is  written  that   they  shall  be  transferred  from  the  rulers  who 
abused  their  authority,  to  Messiah  himself,  it  is  tantamount  to 
the  prediction  elsewhere  met  with,  that  he  shall  be  king  over 
all  the  earth.     But  further,  this   shall  come  to   pass,  when  he 
shall  come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  which  is  equivalent  with  the 
expression  in  the  parable  before  us,  7cJien  the  So?i.  of  Man  shall 
come  in  his  glory.     When  he  cometh  in  glory  all  men  therefore 
cannot   have  put  off   mortalit}',   nor  t^hall  they   stand   before 
him  in  resurrection  bodies,  but  the  generation  of  men  then  ex- 
isting, who  shall  survive  the  tribulation  of  those   days,  shall 
continue  to  inhabit  the  earth,  not  as  the  vassals  of  earthly  mo- 
narchs,  but  as  the  liege  subjects  of  the  Son  of  Man.     I  need 
not  at  present  multiply  proofs  from  the  Prophets,  that  when 
he  cometh  in  glory  he  will  come  in  the  character  here  foretold, 
and  just  at  that  epoch  when  the  possessors  of  abused  power 
shall  be  compelled  to  relinquish  it  to  him. 

But  in  addition  to  the  epoch  it  is  material  also  to  ascertain 
who  those  are  that  shall  accompany  him;  vvho,  in  fact,  are 
meant  by  all  the  holy  messengers,  spoken  of  here.  In 
Enoch's  prophecy  they  are  represented  to  be  the  .Myriads  of  his 
Saints.  Jude  14.     Paul  writes  that  those,  who  are  to  be  brought 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  47 

with  him,  are  they  who  have  previously  slept  with  him,  the 
dead  in  Christ,  to  whom  are  to  be  conjoined  the  believing  quick. 
1  Thess.  iv.  14 — 17.  And  again,  that  tJie  messengers  of  nis  own 
power  [ctyyixm S'u)/difji.iu)^ avTov)  who  Were  once  troubled  and  afflicted 
for  his  sake,  shall  be  the  attendants  of  his  Apocalypse  from 
Heaven.  2  Thess.  i.  7.  They  are  said  to  be  his  oxen  messen- 
gers, ATTOT,  in  contradistinction  to  those  of  the  Father,  who  are 
commonly  described  hj  iheicvm  a7i gels.  It  is  important  to  bear 
this  in  mind. — When  in  the  latter  day  his  feet  shall  stand  upon 
the  Mount  of  Olives,  it  is  written,  Zech.  xiv.  5,  that  all  the 
sai?its  shall  come  with  him,  but  I  know  no  Scripture  authority 
for  stating  that  all  the  a??^e/5,  strictly  so  called,  shall  come  with 
him.  The  saints  are  his  ozvn  messengers.  Thus  in  the  parable 
of  the  Tares,  it  is  indefinitely  asserted.  Matt.  xiii.  39,  the  reapers 
are  messengers;  but  in  verse  41,  the  indefinite  assertion  assumes 
a  distinct  and  definite  form.  The  Son  of  man  shall  send  forth 
HIS  OWN  MESSENGERS,  tou;  uyytKov;  ctuTov,  and  they  shall  galhev  out 
of  his  ki7igdom  all  things  that  offend.  He  tells  us  himself,  in- 
deed, that  "he  shall  send  his  own  angels  with  a  great  sound  of 
a  trumpet,  and  they  shall  gather  his  elect  (by  whom  I  under- 
stand the  Jews,)  from  the  four  winds,"  &c.  Matt.  xxiv.  31, 
but  these  trumpets  of  the  great  Jubilee  will,  I  believe,  be  blown 
by  the  saints.  It  may  be  necessary  to  notice  the  statement, 
Hereafter  ye  shall  see  the  heaven  open  and  the  angels  of  God,  as  in 
Jacob's  vision,  ascend'wg  and  descenditig  upon  the  Son  of  Man, 
executing  his  behests  and  fulfilling  his  righteous  pleasure.  As 
his  own  messengers  are  called  elsewhere  the  saints  of  the  Most 
High,  so  here  they  are  called  the  Messengers  of  God,  descending 
from  the  New  Jerusalem  to  their  camp  contiguous  to  the  ter- 
restrial city,  Rev.  xx.  9,  before  the  heavenly  city  descends  actu- 
ally to  the  earth.  Rev.  xxi.  10,  24,  27,  when  earth  shall  be- 
come a  fit  site  for  its  abiding  resting-place.  But  to  refer  to 
the  Prophet  Daniel,  the  angel  who  interpreted  to  him  the  vision 
of  the  four  Beasts,  and  of  the  righteous  empire,  by  which  they 
are  to  be  uprooted  and  succeeded,  adds,  in  explanation  of  this 
latter  empire,  and  as  corresponding  with  the  cession  of  empire 
to  the  Son  of  Man,  But  the  Saints  of  the  Most  High  or  of  the  high 
places  (marg.  &  com.  Eph.  i.  3;  ii.  6)  shall  take  the  kingdom  and 
possess  the  kingdom  even  for  ever  and  ever.  Here  then  we  have  the 
Saints  as  the  supernal  rulers  taking  the  empire  out  of  the  grasp 
of  the  Beast,  and  entering  on  the  possession  of  it  themselves, 
at  the  very  time  when  the  Son  of  Man  cometh  in  glory,  and 
receiveth  his  own  indestructible  and  universal  kingdom  from 
the  Ancient  of  days.  But  this  they  could  not  do  unless  they 
accompanied  and  received  it  conjointly  with  him,  unless,  in 
fact,  the  cession  of  it  to  him  implied  the  cession  of  it  to  them. 


48  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

And  this  it  does  for  they  are  joint-heirs  along  with  him,  and 
shall  be  glorified  together  with  him.  Rom.  viii.  17.  He  shall 
grant  it  to  them  to  sit  with  him  on  his  throne,  even  as  he  sat 
down  on  the  Father's  throne.  Rev.  iii.  21.  He  has  made 
them  kings  and  priests  unto  God,  and  they  shall  reign  with 
him  on  the  earth,  Rev.  v.  10.  But  Daniel  proceeds  after- 
wards himself  to  expatiate  further  on  his  own  vision,  thus  inter- 
preted, "I  beheld,  and  the  same  horn  made  war  with  the  saints, 
and  prevailed  against  them;  until  the  ancient  of  days  came, 
and  jtidg'me?it  was  given  to  the  sai?ils  of  the  Most  High,  and  the 
time  came  that  the  Saints  possessed  the  Kingdom,"  v.  21,  22, 
From  this  I  gather  that  the  Saints  were  the  objects  of  a  suc- 
cessful persecution  up  to  the  session  of  the  ancient  of  days; 
that  they  were  therefore  once  the  faithful  confessors  of  Mes- 
siah; and  must  thence  be  the  faithful  in  Christ  Jesus.  Again, 
I  learn,  that  they  are  not  themselves  arraigned  before  the  tri- 
bunal of  Jesus,  but  are  advanced  to  judicial  eminence,  and  regal 
power — they  must  therefore  be  all  the  Saints  [nym)  the  messen- 
gers {ayyixat)  who  shall  be  with  the  Son  of  Man  when  he  cometh 
in  his  glory,  and  when  all  nations  are  gathered  before  him. 
By  the  expressions  allnatiofis  Mr.  Gipps  understands  all  the 
generations  of  men,  godly  and  ungodly,  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world,  up  to  this  time.  They  cannot  be  the  departed 
generations  of  the  godly,  because  they  are  included  in  all  the 
holy  messengers,  who  accompany  Messiah,  and  before  whom 
these  nations  are  gathered.  They  cannot  be  the  departed 
generations  of  the  ungodly,  for  there  is  no  note  whatever  of 
their  having  been  raised  from  the  grave,  no  mention  of  the 
dead,  small  and  great,  standing  before  the  great  white  throne. 
But  as  we  have  a  long  argument  to  prove  that  the  word  nations 
really  does  denote  the  risen  dead  of  all  generations,  we  must 
endeavour  to  examine  it — "First,"  he  says,  "the  usual  signifi- 
cation of  the  word  nations  or  all  ?iations,  implies  persons  not  of 
one  generation  only,  but  of  various  generations."  Well,  it  is 
quite  true  that  when  the  history,  civilization,  or  character  of 
nations  are  the  subject  of  discourse,  the  various  generations  of 
men,  who  as  compatriots  have  figured  on  the  stage,  or  swelled 
the  population  for  the  day,  either  are  or  may  be  included;  but 
it  is  only  in  reference  to  them  as  the  once  mortal  occupants  of 
the  soil,  who  did  in  their  time  perform  their  part  in  the  exhi- 
bition of  the  national  character  and  prowess,  but  not  as  disem- 
bodied spirits,  or  as  men  raised  from  the  dead.  It  is  with 
reference  to  the  past  and  to  society,  and'  not  with  reference  to 
individual  conduct  or  to  their  future  condition,  that  allusion  is 
made  when  the  bye-gone  generations  of  men  are  spoken  of 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  49 

under  the  general  appellation  of  the  nation  or  nations  to  which 
they  belonged.  But  Scripture  usage  must  determine  the  sense 
in  which  the  term  is  employed  by  inspiration.  I  take  Mr. 
Gipps'  references — I  have  made  thee  a  Father  of  many  nations, 
Rom.  iv.  17.  This  promise  is  to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of 
anticipatory  history.  Many  nations  did  spring  from  Abraham 
in  the  respective  lines  of  Ishmael,  Isaac,  and  the  sons  of  Ketu- 
rah,  together  with  all  the  seed  to  whom  the  promise  is  sure,  so 
that  he  is  "the  father  of  us  all  (KaTivsivn)  in  the  sight  of  God, 
who  quickeneth  the  dead  and  calleth  those  things,  which  be 
not,  as  though  they  were."  v.  16,  17.  But  how  does  this 
affect  the  question — does  the  descent  of  nations,  literally  inha- 
biting the  world  and  distinguished  by  their  respective  national 
features,  though  those  nations  descend  from  Abraham,  at  all 
justify  the  idea  that  the  nations  can  be  expressive  of  the  dead 
small  and  great  ?  Is  it  in  their  corporate  capacity,  or  as  charac- 
terized by  their  national  distinctions  they  are  to  stand  before 
the  great  white  throne?  Paul  proves  God's  purpose  of  mercy  to 
the  Gentiles,  by  referring  to  sundry  prophecies,  which  speak 
of  a  time  yet  future,  in  which  all  nations  shall  rejoice  in  God, 
praise  his  name,  and  be  ruled  over  by  the  root  of  Jesse,  Rom. 
XV.  9 — 12;  but  unless  it  be  proved,  that  this  is  to  take  place 
after  the  supposed  dissolution  of  the  entire  fabric  of  the  world, 
I  see  not  how'  the  argument  is  improved  by  this  reference. 
Such  a  proof  indeed  I  know  cannot  be  given,  for  when  I  look 
back  to  the  last  quotation  made  by  the  apostle  from  Isa.  x.  10, 
where  he  found  it,  I  find  it  added  that  it  shall  come  to  pass  in 
THAT  day,  when  the  Gentiles  shall  thus  trust  in  Jesse's  root, 
"that  the  Lord  shall  set  his  hand  again  the  second  time  to  re- 
cover the  remnant  of  his  people  that  shall  be  left  from  Assyria, 
&c.  gather  together  the  dispersed  of  Judah  from  the  four  cor- 
ners of  the  earth — remove  the  envy  between  her  and  Ephraim 
— cause  them  to  spoil  the  Philistines,  Edomites,  Moabites  and 
Ammonites, — divide  Euphrates  into  seven  streams,  and  re- 
serve a  highway  from  Assyria,  as  of  old,  from  Egypt  for  his 
people."  vi.  ii.  16.  All  these  things  can  only  be  done  on  the 
present  surface  of  our  world;  and  the  nations  therefore,  who 
are  to  trust  in  Jesse's  root,  must  be  literal  nations  in  flesh  and 
blood  embodied. — But  to  proceed,  it  is  written,  "the  Scripture 
foreseeing  God  would  justify  the  nations  through  faith  preached 
before  the  Gospel  unto  Abraham,  saying,  in  thee  shall  all  na- 
tions be  blessed,"  Gal.  iii.  8,  and  so  all  nations  shall — for  his 
seed  shall  possess- the  gate  of  his  enemies,  and  be  thus  empow- 
ered to  bless  them.  Gen.  xxii.  17.  "Israel  shall  blossom  and 
bud,  and  fill  the  face  of  the  world  with  fruit.  From  this  ulti- 
mate purpose  of  the  Lord  the  apostle  gathers  the  argument, 
29* 


50  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

that  as  all  nations  are  to  be  then  blessed,  believing  Gentiles  are 
now  also,  by  an  inchoate  fulfilment  of  the  prediction,  blessed 
with  faithful  Abraham,  v.  9,  But  is  it  not  of  the  present  justi- 
fication of  the  mystic  seed  of  Abraham  taken  out  of  the  na- 
tions and  constituted  a  chosen  iialion,  a  royal  priesthood,  a  pecu- 
liar people  that  Paul  speaketh?  and  is  it  not  of  the  ultimate 
condition  of  the  earth,  siill  distinguished  by  national  subdivi- 
sions, once  inimical  to,  but  now  possessed  by  Israel  that  the 
promise,  which  he  quotes,  speaketh?  The  song  of  the  redeem- 
ed, next  referred  to.  Rev.  v.  9,  is  the  song  of  those,  who  have 
ceased  to  have  any  thing  national  about  them,^  for  they  are 
redeemed  out  q/"all  nations.  They  do  not  form  now,  though 
they  once  belonged  to  separate  nations. — Again,  Rev.  xii.  5. 
The  man  child  is  "to  rule  all  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron."  Surely 
this  prediction  comporteth  not  with  one  view  entertained  by 
our  respected  author — whether  it  be  the  literal  or  the  mystic 
Christ,  who  is  spoken  of,  all  nations  shall  thus  be  ruled  by  him 
— according  as  we  have  seen  predicted  in  Dan.  vii.  or  as  in 
these  very  words  it  is  more  particularly  foretold  concerning 
him,  Ps.  ii.  9;  Rev.  ii.  27;  xix.  15.  But  the  "all  nations"  to 
be  thus  ruled  are  the  nations  of  this  world,  subdivided,  in  like 
manner,  as  we  see  them  subdivided  now,  and  consisting  of  men 
clothed  in  real  flesh  and  blood.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
if,  as  it  is  stated  in  the  second  Psalm,  he  who  shall  thus  rule 
them,  is  to  sit  the  while  as  king  on  the  holy  hill  of  Zio?j,  to  ob- 
tain *'the  Heathen  for  his  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth  for  his  possession,"  v.  6 — 9.  The  cause  of  Baby- 
lon's fall  is  traced,  Rev.  xiv.  8,  to  her  having  "made  all  na- 
tions drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  her  fornication."  If 
she  made  the  disembodied  spirits  do  so,  there  would  be  some 
ground  for  her  arrogant  claim  to  the  keys  of  hell.  The  na- 
tions she  scourged,  who  partook  of  her  wine,  and  of  her  for- 
nication, were  the  nations  who  submitted  to  her  supremacy 
and  domination.  The  last  reference  trenches  on  particularly 
debateable  ground. — Satan  shall  be  bound  in  order  that  he  may 
not  deceive  the  iiations  during  the  thousand  years,  Rev.  xx.  3. 
Let  the  interpretation  of  this  contested  place  be  what  it  may, 
it  is  on  all  sides  acknowledged  that  the  nations,  who  are  thus 
to  be  exempted  from  temptations,  are  nations  of  living  men, 
who  never  passed  through  death. — The  point,  however,  seems 
to  be  in  all  these  passages,  which  have  been  adduced,  that, 
though  they  be  nations  of  living  men,  they  are  designed  to 
describe  more  generations  of  living  men  than  one — and  what 
results  from  this?  nothing. — No  period  can  be  referred  to  in 
any  one  nation,  wherein  there  was  not  a  constant  succession  of 
living  persons  taking  place — the  young  ever  pressing  on  the 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  5X 

old,  and  the  cradle  ever  supplying  the  ranks,  which  the  grave 
had  thinned.  But  in  no  one  instance  is  the  term  employed  to 
describe  those,  who  having  been  gathered  to  their  fathers,  have 
gone  down  into  the  region  of  invisible  spirits.  The  distinc- 
tion of  nations  existeth  not  tliere,  and  indeed  is  utterly  impos- 
sible. The  separation  in  that  world  not  being  according  to  na- 
tions, but  according  to  character.  They  are  not  re-collected 
there  as  Britons  and  as  Hindoos,  but  classified  alone  as  the  just 
and  the  unjust.  In  opposition  however,  to  this  remark,  Mr. 
Gipps  adds  ^'secondly,  The  term  nations  in  Rev.  vii.  9,  appears  to 
me  to  refer,  not  only  to  persons  of  different  generations,  but 
to  those  who  have  died  before  Christ's  second  coming,  in 
agreement  with  the  obvious  meaning  of  the  term.  Matt,  xxv." 
That  it  is  so  obvious,  then,  is  the  question  at  issue.  Now  the 
place  he  refers  to  is  the  verse  immediately  following  the  ac- 
count of  the  sealing  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  and  to  the  fol- 
lowing effect — "After  this  I  beheld,  and  lo,  a  great  multitude, 
which  no  man  could  number,  of  (a*  out  of)  all  nations,  (out  of 
every  nation)  and  kindreds,  and  people,  and  tongues,  stood  be- 
fore the  throne  and  before  the  Lamb,,  clothed  with  white  robes 
and  palms  in  their  hands."  Now,  the  very  same  word,  out  of, 
which  is  employed  in  the  passage  already  examined.  Rev.  v. 
9,  is  the  very  same,  which  is  used  here;  and  though  it  be  trans- 
lated in  our  version  as  the  mere  sign  of  the  genitive  case,  I  can 
see  nothing  which  distinguishes  it  in  the  smallest  degree  from 
the  parallel  place,  where  the  phrase,  with  which  it  is  connected, 
is  not  surmised  to  signify,  "those  who  have  died  before  Christ's 
second  coming."  I  am  willing  to  admit,  indeed,  that  the 
countless  multitude  standing  before  the  throne  is  composed  of 
such,  but  are  they  described  as  nations? — No  such  thing.  They 
are  composed  of  persons  out  of  all  (every)  nations.  And  why 
this  reference  to  their  former  estate  on  earth,  but  to  teach  us 
that,  besides  the  144,000  sealed  of  Israel,  there  will  be  in  that 
same  day  of  sealing,  a  goodly  company  of  Gentile  origin  also, 
who  shall  actthepartof  faithful  witnesses  for  Jesus?  "Thirdly," 
Mr.  Gipps  continues,  "the  context  shews  that  the  term  all  na- 
tions cannot  refer  only  to  the  generation  then  living,  but  must 
also  include  preceding  generations.  For  the  sheep  who  form  one 
division  of  all  nations,  (ver.  32,)  represent  the  Saints,  but  the 
Saints  not  only  of  that  but  also  of  all  preceding  generations  will 
be  with  the  Lord  when  becomes.  1  Thess.  iv.  15 — 17;  Col.  iii. 
4.  Consequently  the  sheep  include  the  saints  of  all  preceding 
generations,  and  therefore  the  term  all  nations  also  includes  all 
preceding  generations,"  &c.  Now,  I  deny  that  the  sheep  do 
represent  the  saints  strictly  so  called.  If  I  be  correct,  in  what 
I  have  already  endeavoured  to  establish,  that  the  Saints  are  the 


52  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

holy  messengers,  who  accompany  Messiah,  then  is  it  impossi- 
ble that  they  can  be  the  sheep  also.  The  one  surround  Mes- 
siah, as  assessors  on  his  throne;  the  others  are  gathered  before 
him  to  be  judged.  The  nations  judicially  assembled  are  sepa- 
rated and  distinguished  by  the  characteristic  appellatives  of 
goals  and  sheep.  I  ask  then  is  there  no  nation,  which  Scripture 
delights  to  represent  under  the  interesting  symbol  of  sheep? 
Assuredly  the  Jews  are  emphatically  the  sheep  of  the  Lord's 
pasture.  When  Judah  is  to  obtain  victory  over  Greece's  sons, 
it  is  written — "the  Lord  their  God  shall  save  them  in  that  day, 
as  the  flock  of  his  people."  Zach.  ix.  16.  I  might  refer  to  in- 
numerable places  to  this  effect,  but  I  satisfy  myself  with  the 
notice  of  Ezek.  xxxiv.  10 — 31.  The  Lord  having  declared 
his  purpose  of  requiring  his  flock  at  the  hands  of  the  political 
shepherds,  who  scattered  Israel,  promises  himself  to  search  and 
seek  them  out;  to  gather  his  sheep  from  the  places  of  their 
dispersion,  in  the  cloudy  and  dark  day;  to  feed  them  in  a  good 
pasture;  to  provide  them  with  a  good  fold  and  fat  pasture  on 
the  high  mountains  of  Israel;  to  seek  the  lost,  bind  the  broken, 
strengthen  the  sick,  take  care  of  the  *fat  and  the  strong,  and 
feed  them  with  discretion. f  He  then  proceeds  to  declare  his 
purpose  of  judgment,  in  an  address  to  his  own  flock,  (ver.  17, 
see  marg.)  And  yoit,  0  myjlock,  thus  sailh  the  Lord  God,  be- 
hold I  judge  betiveen 

The  small  cattle  o/"  lambs  and  kids, 

Afid  between  the  rams  and  the  great  he  goats.  This  is  1 
know  is  generally  understood  to  refer  to  the  two  divisions  of 
Judah,  the  righteous,  and  unrighteous.  But  in  the  preceding 
description  of  the  flock  we  meet  with  no  notice  of  kids  or  He- 
goats.  It  is  the  sheep  alone,  that  Jehovah  speaks  of  as  his  flock, 
which  he  is  to  gather  and  feed.  And  having  gathered  these  on 
the  mountains  of  Israel,  he  resolves  to  decide  judicially  between 
them  and  the  goats,  who  can  therefore  be  no  otiier  than  the 
Gentile  Anti-Christian  confederates,  including  indeed  the  apos- 
tate Jews,  who  shall  be  in  alliance  with  them,  and  against 
whom,  as  we  know  from  other  Scriptures,  their  arms  shall 
finally  be  turned.  He  now  addresses  the  goats — "Is  it  a  small 
thing  unto  you  to  have  eaten  up  the  good  pasture,  but  ye  must 
tread  down  with  your  feet  the  residue  of  3'our  pastures?  And 
to  have  drunk  of  the  deep  waters,  but  ye  must  foul  the  resi- 
due with  your  feet?"  Afid  as  for  uy  flock,  which  is  contra- 
distinguished from  the  party  addressed,  "they  eat  that,  which 
ye  have  trodden  with  your  feet,  and  they  drink  that,  which  ye 
have  fouled  with  your  feet."  This  ungenerous  treatment  of 
the  sheep,  want  of  affection  towards  them,  and  indisposition  to 
*  V.  16,  so  Arab.  Syr.  Vulg.  Newcombe.  t  Newcombe. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  53 

serve  them,  is  made  the  very  ground  of  the  judgment.  ''There- 
fore thus  saith  the  lord  god  unto  them:  Behold  I,  even  I  will 
judge,  between  the  fat  cattle  and  the  lean  cattle."  v.  20.  The 
fat  cattle  here  are  commonly  confounded  with  the  fat  and  the 
strong  of  Jehovah's  own  flock,  of  whom  he  promises  to  take 
care  in  v.  17.  But  the  characteristic  of  fatness  is  insufficient 
to  prove  the  identity.  Some  of  liis  own  flock  may  be  fat  in 
comparison  of  others,  but,  as  an  aggregate,  his  own  flock,  as 
contrasted  with  the  goats,  who  have  eaten  up  the  good  pasture 
and  trodden  down  the  residue,  may  be  lean.  That  they  are 
not  the  fat  of  his  own  flock,  who  are  here  spoken  of,  appears 
from  what  follows.  "Because  ye  have  thrust  with  side  and 
with  shoulder,  and  pushed  all  the  diseased  with  your  horns, 
(the  horns  or  powers  of  the  Gentiles)  till  he  have  scattered 
THEM  abroad;  therefore  will  I  save  my  flock,  and  they  shall 
be  no  more  a  prey;  and  I  will  judge  between  cattle  and  cattle." 
V.  21,  22.  The  Jews  did  not  disperse  the  Jews.  The  Gen- 
tiles scattered  them  abroad.  His  flock,  the  Jews,  are  to  be  saved 
from  the  scatterens — "And  I  will  set  up  one  Shepherd  over 
them,  and  he  shall  feed  them,  even  my  servant  David;  he  shall 
feed  them,  and  lie  shall  be  their  Shepherd,"  in  the  room  of 
the  political  shepherds  or  rulers,  from  whose  power  they  are 
rescued.  In  other  words,  as  in  v.  24,  ''I  the  Jehovah  will  be 
their  Elohim,  and  my  servant  David  a  prince  among  them;  I 
the  LORD  have  spoken  it."  I  reserve  the  rest  of  this  prediction 
till  the  close  of  our  remarks  on  the  Saviour's  prophec}'.  I  ob- 
serve we  have  here  Messiah  the  Prince,  David,  the  beloved 
one,  succeeding  to  the  office  of  the  evil  Shepherds,  the  Princes 
of  the  Gentiles;  and  the  nations  themselves,  as  ^o«/s  judged.  Is 
there  not,  therefore,  a  perfect  correspondence  between  this  pre- 
diction and  the  account  given  in  Matthew  of  the  nations  gath- 
ered before  the  Son  of  Man,  and  separated  for  judgment,  the 
sheep  and  the  goats?  I  cannot  but  believe,  that  both  predic- 
tions relate  to  the  same  period  and  the  same  parties.  To  use 
Mr.  Gipps'  mode  of  argument,  and  indeed  his  very  words, 
changing  only  the  final  reference,  "the  very  striking  coinci- 
dence, which  there  is  between  the  description  in  Matt.  xxv. 
31  to  46,  of  the  events,  which  will  take  place  at  the  time  of 
Christ's  coming  in  glory,  and  the  description  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  has  also  given  us  in"  Ezek.  xxxiv.  10 — 31,  "of  the  events 
which  will  take  place  at  the  time"  when  Israel  is  rescued  from 
evil  Shepherds,  and  placed  under  the  shepherding  of  Messiah 
the  Prince,  "proves,  I  conceive,  that  they  are  one  and  the 
same  event."  But  to  proceed — the  sheep  are  addressed  as  the 
Blessed  of  the  Father,  and  called  to  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  them  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.     This  address  would 


54  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

assuredly  be  applicable  to  the  case  of  the  Saints,  because  they 
are  the  blessed  of  the  Father  and  a  kingdom  is  prepared  for 
them,  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  and  were  they  the  par- 
ties symbolised  by  the  sheep,  no  doubt  could  exist  that  it  was 
their  blessedness  and  their  kingdom  that  was  spoken  of.  But 
the  natural  posterity  of  Abraham  are  also  blessed,  and  a  king- 
dom is  also  in  reserve  at  the  very  same  epoch,  for  them.  Hear 
what  is  written. — In  that  day,  when  the  mountain  of  the  house 
of  the  Lord  is  exalted  above  the  hills,  and  many  nations  come 
there  to  be  taught  of  his  ways  by  the  Lord,  and  universal  peace 
prevails,  "in  that  day,  saith  the  lord,  will  1  assemble  her  that 
HALTETH,  and  I  will  gather  her  that  is  driven  out,  and  her  that 
I  have  afflicted;  and  I  will  make  her  that  halted  a  remnant, 
and  her  that  was  cast  off  a  strong  nation;  and  Jehovah  shall 
reign  over  them  in  Mount  Zion,  from  henceforth  even  for  ever. 
And  thou,  0  tower  of  the  flock,  the  strong  hold  of  the  daugh- 
ter of  Zion,  UNTO  THEE  SHALL  IT  COME,  EVEN  THE  FIRST  DO- 
MINION; THE  KINGDOM  SHALL  COME  TO  THE  DAUGHTER  OF  JE- 
RUSALEM, Micah  iv.  6,  8.  Now  Imperial  authority  is  here 
assigned  to  Judah,  and  yet  she  herself  is  placed  under  the  more 
immediate  government  of  Messiah;  while  she  is  by  two  special 
notes  identified  with  the  sheep:  first,  by  the  expression  she  that 
halted,  in  allusion  to  lame  sheep  who  go  sideways;  and  secondly, 
by  the  name  conferred  on  her,  the  tower  of  the  Jlock.  The  deci- 
sion of  the  Son  of  Man,  rests  precisely  on  the  same  grounds 
with  the  decision  in  Ezekiel.  The  goats  are  brought  in  guilty 
thus,  '^inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the  least  of  these  my 
brethren,  (the  Jews  emphatically  are  the  brethren  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  for  he  was  of  the  seed  of  Abraham  and  of  the  family  of 
David,  according  to  the  flesh,)  ye  did  it  ?70t  to  me;  and  the  sheep 
are  accepted  in  these  terms,  "inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  to  one  of 
the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me."  The 
goats  are  judged  in  Ezekiel,  because  so  far  from  shewing  kind- 
ness to  the  sheep,  they  scattered  and  peeled  them,  eat  their 
good  pastures,  and  fouled  their  good  waters.  So  here,  it  is  the 
conduct,  that  was  observed  tozvards  the  sheep,  that  is  made  the 
criterion  of  judgment.  I  feel  perfectly  satisfied,  notwithstand- 
ing the  ingenuity  of  Mr.  Gipps,  and  indeed  of  the  commenta- 
tors in  general,  that  this  is  not  the  criterion  of  judgment  before 
the  white  throne,  but  works  in  general.  So  long  ago  as  the 
call  of  Abraham  it  was  made  the  criterion  of  the  divine  deal- 
ings towards  mankind.  "I  will  bless  them  that  bless  thee,  and 
curse  him  that  curseth  thee."  Gen.  xii.  3.  I  therefore  look 
with  gladsome  approval  on  tiie  contemplated  emancipation  of 
the  Jews  by  the  i3ritish  Legislature.  They  talk  indeed  of  the 
course,  that  ought  to  be  pursued  by  a  Christian  nation,  towards 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION,  55 

the  blasphemers  of  Messiah.  There  never  has  been  in  the 
strict  and  proper  sense,  a  Christian  nation — there  is  not  at  this 
moment  a  Christian  nation — and  there  never  will  be  a  Chris- 
tian nation  upon  earth,  till  Messiah  shall  take  his  station  on  the 
throne  of  his  Father  David.  Shew  nie  any  one  nation,  at  any 
one  time,  of  which  the  majority  either  have  been  or  are  Chris- 
tians in  deed  and  in  truth.  But  we  must  not  wander  from  the 
question.  We  now  arrive  at  the  sentence,  which  passes  on  the 
respective  parties,  the  sheep  and  the  goats.  The  latter  are  con- 
signed to  death  or  punishment.  This  corresponds  with  the 
punishment  inflicted  on  the  slain  of  all  flesh,  whose  carcasses 
are  an  abhorrence,  and  vvhose  torments  are  conspicuous  to  the 
survivors,  Isa.  Ixvi.  24;  with  the  slaying  of  the  Beast,  the  de- 
struction of  his  body,  and  its  consignment  to  the  flames,  Dan. 
vii.  11;  with  the  harvest  and  vintage  in  the  valley  of  Jehosha- 
phat,  Joel  iii.  14;  with  the  supernatural  destruction,  one  after 
another,  of  the  inlets  of  sin,  the  bodily  organs  of  those,  who 
fought  against  Jerusalem,  Zech.  xiv.  12;  with  the  conflagration 
of  those,  who  do  wickedly,  as  stubble  in  an  oven,  Mai.  iv.  1; 
and  with  the  treading  of  the  winepress  of  the  fierceness  and 
wrath  of  Almighty  God,  the  supper  provided  for  the  fowls  of 
heaven,  and  the  consigning  of  the  Beast,  the  False  Prophet,  and 
their  deluded  votaries,  to  the  lake  of  fire  burning  with  brim- 
stone, Rev.  xix.  17 — 21.  The  reward  bestowed  on  the  sheep 
seems  to  present  more  difiiculty,  but  there  is  none  in  reality. 
The  Jewish  nation,  as  collected  before  the  Son  of  man,  will  at 
this  crisis  be  righteous.  Pleaded  with,  as  of  old  time,  in  the 
wilderness  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  the  rebels  having  previously 
been  purged  out,  the  restored  residue  shall,  with  true  penitence, 
remember  their  doings,  and  their  szceet  savour  shall  be  accepted, 
Ezek.  XX.  33 — 44.  The  surviving  third  part  of  the  self-re- 
stored portion,  found  in  the  occupation  of  the  land,  refined  as 
silver  and  gold  in  the  fire,  shall  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord 
and  be  heard:  "I  will  say,  it  is  my  people,  and  they  shall  say 
the  Lord  is  my  God."  Zech.  xiii.  9.  When  they  confess  their 
iniquities;  when  their  uncircumcised  hearts  are  humbled;  and 
they  have  accepted  the  punishment  of  their  iniquities,  it  is 
then  the  covenant  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  shall  be  re- 
membered, and  the  land  also.  Lev.  xxvi.  30 — 4  5.  (see  Horse- 
ley  in  loco.)  "When  from  thence  thou  shalt  seek  the  Lordthy 
God  and  shalt  find  him,  and  when  thou  shall  seek  him  with  all 
thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul  in  thy  affliction,  and  when  all  these 
things  are  come  upon  thee,  even  in  the  latter  days,  then  thou 
shalt  turn  to  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  shalt  be  obedient  to  his 
voice,  (for  the  Lord  thy  God  is  a  merciful  God)  he  will  not  for- 
sake thee,  neither  destroy  thee,  nor  forget  the  covenant  of  thy 


55  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

fathers,  which  hesware  unto  them."  Deut.  iv.  28 — 31.  (amend- 
ed after  Horseley);  see  also  Deut.  xxx.  1 — 7.  Fearful  abomina- 
tions we  know  will  be  committed,  by  the  apostate  Jews  in  Je- 
rusalem, as  described  in  Ezek.  viii.  but  before  swift  destruc- 
tion Cometh  upon  the  offenders,  the  Lord  says,  '<Go  through 
the  midst  of  the  City,  through  the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  and  set 
a  mark  upon  the  foreheads  of  the  men  that  sigh  and  that  cry 
for  all  the  abominations  that  be  done  in  the  midst  thereof." 
Ezek.  ix.  4.  These  correspond  with  the  third  refined  part  in 
Zechariah,  and  with  those  mentioned  by  the  same  prophet,  on 
whom  the  spirit  of  grace  and  of  supplication  being  poured  out, 
they  mourn,  like  the  mourning  for  an  only  son,  each  family 
apart,  when  they  look  upon  him,  whom  they  have  pierced, 
Zech.  xii.  10 — 14.  But  still  more  evidently  does  the  de- 
scription of  those  mourners  in  Jerusalem  correspond  with  the 
144,000  of  Israel,  who  are  sealed,  before  judgment  is  suffered 
to  alight  on  the  ungodly.  Rev.  vii.  1 — 4.  Now,  I  find  in  an 
express,  undeniable,  and  universally  admitted  description  of 
the  second  advent,  these  righteous  mourners  specifically  men- 
tioned as  beholding,  at  the  same  time  with  all  nations,  the  Son 
of  Man  in  his  glory — "Behold,  he  cometh  with  clouds  and 
every  eye  shall  see  him,  and  they  which  pierced  him:  and  all 
the  kindreds  of  the  earth  shall  wail  because  of  him."  Rev.  i. 
7.  The  reference  is  undeniably  to  Zechariah,  and  the  parties 
described  are  the  inhabitants  of  the  world,  not  of  Hades,  every 
eye,  divided  into  the  two  classes  of  sheep  and  goats — they  rvho 
pierced  him,  the  Jews — all  the  kindreds  of  the  earth,  the  Gentiles. 
This  might  be  proved  from  innumerable  scriptures  to  be  their 
lot,  but  I  confine  myself  to  the  context  in  Ezekiel  xxxiv.  which 
I  reserved  till  now.  Placed  under  the  happy  rule  of  Messiah 
their  Shepherd  all  this  blessedness  is  their's.  "I  will  make 
with  them  a  covenant  of  peace,  and  will  cause  the  evil  beasts 
to  cease  out  of  the  land;  and  they  shall  dwell  safely  in  the 
wilderness,  (for  it  now  becomes  a  portion  of  the  land,  according 
to  the  promise,  that  it  should  extend  from  Euphrates  to  the 
Nile)  and  sleep  in  the  woods.  And  I  will  make  them  and  the 
places  round  about  my  hill  a  blessing;  and  I  will  cause  the 
shower  to  come  down  in  his  season;  there  shall  he  shozvers  of 
blessing;"  v.  25,  26 — extraordinary  fertility  shall  succeed  to 
barrenness,  safety  to  peril,  and  liberty  to  bondage;  ver.  27,28. 
"And  I  will  raise  up  for  them  a  plant  of  renon-n,  and  they  shall 
no  more  be  consumed  with  hunger  in  the  land,  neither  bear 
the  shame  of  the  heathen  any  more.  Thus  shall  they  know 
that  I  the  Jehovah  their  Elohim  am  nith  them  (Immanuel,)  and 
that  they,  even  the  house  of  Israel,  are  my  people,  sailh  the  Lord 
God.     And  ye  my  Jlock,  the  flock  of  my  pasture  are  Men,  and 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  57 

I  am  your  God,  saith  the  Lord  God."  I  content  myself  with 
the  quotation.  I  have  now  brought  this  long  examination  of 
the  Parable  of  the  Judgment  on  the  Nations  to  a  close,  and  if 
I  have  satisfied  you  as  to  its  true  meaning,  I  have,  at  the  same 
time,  overturned  all  the  inferences,  which  from  a  mistaken  ap- 
prehension of  its  subject,  were  deduced  from  it  by  Mr.  Gipps. 
The  ordinary  view  of  it  remained  with  me  for  a  long  period 
after  I  had  received,  (now  upwards  of  twenty  years  ago,)  the 
doctrine  of  the  personal  reign  of  Jesus  and  his  Saints  on  earth.  I 
therefore  wonder  not  at  the  error  of  this  respected  author.  The 
colour,  which  our  educational  prepossessions  cast  over  a  great 
portion  of  God's  word,  both  obscures  a  vast  mass  of  the  truth 
it  contains,  and  prevents  its  reception.  This  is  more  particu- 
larly the  case  with  the  Parables.  They  have  been  so  thoroughly 
interwoven  with  the  traditions  of  men,  it  is  difficult  to  distin- 
guish them  from  the  foreign  threads,  which  have  been  passed 
through  them. 

But  independently  of  this  difficulty  in  the  way  of  a  right 
interpretation,  there  is  another  cause,  though  it  has  greatly  been 
overlooked,  which  adds  largely  to  the  prevailing  ignorance  of 
their  contents — the  designed  obscurity,  in  which  they  are  in- 
volved. Those,  who  are  least  friendly  to  prophetic  enquiry, 
imagining  that  the  parables  are  amongst  the  plainest  parts  of 
Scripture,  though  such  of  them  as  are  allegorical  are  one  and 
all  prophetic,  consider  the  veriest  tyro  in  divinity  capable  of 
expounding  them.  But  hear  what  the  Holy  One,  who  spake 
them,  saith;  "Unto  you  it  is  given  to  know  the  Mystery  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God;  but  unto  them  that  are  without,  all  these 
things  are  done  in  parables,  that  seeing  they  may  see,  and  not 
perceive,  and  hearing  they  may  hear  and  not  understand;  lest 
at  any  time  they  should  be  converted,  and  their  sins  should  be 
forgiven  them."  Mark  iv.  11,  12.  "All  these  things  spake 
Jesus  unto  the  multitude  in  parables;  and  without  a  parable 
spake  he  not  unto  them;  that  it  might  be  fulfilled,  which  was 
spoken  by  the  prophet,  saying,  I  will  open  my  mouth  in  para- 
bles, I  will  utter  things,  which  have  been  kept  secret  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world."  Matt.  xiii.  34,  .35.  With  these  re- 
marks I  conclude  my  review  of  Mr.  Gipps'  appeal  to  the  Para- 
bles, but  as  h\s  second  chapter  is  far  from  being  confined  to  this 
branch  of  the  subject,  I  shall  find  abundant  materials  there  to 
supply  me  with  matter  for  another  letter. 

VOL.  III. — 30 


58  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 


LETTER  III. 

• 

The  Transfiguration— The  Coming-One— 2  Pet.  i.  16— Prophecy  of  the  Judg- 
ment, Matt.  xxiv. — Parable  of  the  Fig-tree,  and  all  the  trees,  Luke  xxi. — 
The  Gospel  Kingdom— Figurative  Comings— The  Last  Day— Christ's  voice 
heard  in  the  grave — The  Judgment-seat  of  Christ — Retribution  of  Enemies. 

I  now  return  to  that  portion  of  Mr.  Gipps'  second  letter, 
which  does  not  refer  to  the  Parables.  I  commence  with  his 
notice  of 

THE  TRANSFIGURATION. Matt.    Xvl.  27. 

To  this  reference  I  would  add  verse  28,  "For  the  Son  of 
Man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  own  {mtov)  father,  with  his 
own  messengers,  (siyyixm  avt-cv)  and  then  he  shall  reward  each 
according  to  his  practice.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  there  be 
some  standing  here  which  shall  not  taste  of  death  till  they  see 
the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  his  own  (auTot/)  kingdom." 

The  parties  at  this  period,  to  be  recompensed,  I  believe  to  be 
Jiis  own  messengers.     If  you  have  gone  along  with  me,  in  the 
remarks  I  have  already  made,  you  will  agree  with  me  in  de- 
ciding that  his  01IJ71  messengers  are  the  saints,  with  whom  the 
Son  of  Man  shall  come,  when  he  shall  take  possession  of  his 
kingdom;  the  rewards,  which  he  here  refers  to,  will  be  also 
admitted  to  be  those,  which  it  is  his  gracious  purpose  to  con- 
fer upon  them,  in  correspondence  with  the  rule  laid  down  in 
the  parable  of  the  Talents.      But  the  passage  before  us  opens 
with  a  note  of  reference  to  an  antecedent  statement;  that  note 
is  the  word  ^^for.'^     It  is  taken  by  Mr.  Gipps  as  introducing 
the  alleged  proof,  that  as  each  will  be  rewarded  according  to 
his  practice,  that  man  will  be  profited  nothing,  who,  though  he 
had  gained  the  whole  world,  shall  then  lose  his  own  soul.     I 
believe  him  to  misapprehend  the  argument.     Christ  would  en- 
force the  advantage  of  taking  up  our  cross  and  following  him. 
He  does  this  in  two  ways,  first,  by  shewing  that  he,  who  acts 
otherwise,  shall  lose  his  own  soul,  and  secondli/,  by  showing  that 
he,  who  adopts  this  course,  for  his  sake,  shall  find  it.     This 
latter  he  establishes,  and,  in  establishing  it,  establishes  the  other 
by  inference,  by  saying,  that  when  he  comes  in  the  glory  of 
his  Father,  he  shall  bring  with  him  his  own  messengers,  those 
who  denied  themselves,  took  up  their  cross  and  followed  him, 
and  give  a  reward  to  each  of  them,  that  is  to  each  messenger, 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  59 

according  to  their  service  done  for  him,  as  his  messengers.  In 
order  to  prove  his  own  theory,  it  was  quite  necessary  for  Mr. 
Gipps  to  shew,  that  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  the  glory 
of  his  Father,  in  ver.  27,  was  a  widely  different  thing  from  the 
So?i  of  Ma?i  coming  in  his  kivgdom,  ver.  28.  This  lie  has  at- 
tempted to  do  by  a  violation  of  all  rules  of  consistent  interpre- 
tation. While  in  ver.  27,  the  coming  is  literal,  in  ver.  28,  the 
coming  Son  of  Man  is  a  figure — it  is  no  coming  at  all — it 
amounts  to  nothing  more  than  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  an 
event,  which  was  not  marked  by  his  coming!  And  yet  there 
is  a  difference  between  the  two  comings,  distinctly  marked  in 
the  original,  though  the  real  coming  referred  to,  be  but  one, 
and  the  same  event.  The  phrase,  in  the  first  verse,  is  this, 
/uieKKa  ii>x,(^bai  shall  hereafter  come;  in  the  next  verse  he  solemnly 
assures  them  of  the  certainty  of  this  future  event,  by  the  pro- 
mise that  some  of  those,  then  present,  should  actually,  before 
they  tasted  death,  see  him,  as  the  ifx^f^^vov,  the  coming  one,  in 
HIS  OWN  kingdom.  Now  this  was  an  expression  well  under- 
stood by  them.  It  was  as  the  Coming-One  the  Jews  were  wont 
to  speak  of  Messiah,  and  accordingly,  when  the  Baptist  would 
enquire  of  him  whether  he  was  the  Messiah  or  not,  he  put  the 
interrogatory  to  him  thus,  art  thou  0  ip^o/^ivo;  the  coming  one, 
(Matt,  xi,  3,)  not  regarding  him  as  already  come,  while  he  ap- 
peared only  as  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  having  laid  his  glory  by. 
Again,  the  multitudes,  who  attend  his  triumphant  entry  into 
Jerusalem,  describe  him  in  their  song  of  praise,  not  as  one, 
who  had  already  come,  but  as,  0  ep;io/uivo!  the  coming  one  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord.  Matt.  xxi.  9.  Further,  when  he  utters  his 
pathetic  lament  over  Jerusalem,  he  limits  the  term  of  judicial 
Jewish  blindness  in  these  words,  ye  shall  not  see  me  henceforth, 
till  ye  shall  say,  Blessed  is,  0  ipx^of^ivo;  the  coming  one,  i?i  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  a  passage,  which  corroborates  the  view  I  have 
endeavoured  to  establish  in  the  preceding  letter,  that  he  shall 
be  hailed  with  delight  and  faith,  by  the  Jews,  on  his  return. 
When  Hosannas  linger  on  their  tongues,  and  they  are  in  ex- 
pectation of  his  approach,  then  shall  they  see  him.  Now, 
when  the  Disciples  saw  Jesus,  they  saw  the  Coming-07ie;  but 
when,  with  their  naked  eyes,  they  only  saw  the  manhood,  they 
did  not  see  him,  as  the  Coming-One,  in  his  kingdom.  This, 
however,  he  promises,  that  some  of  them  should  see,  before 
they  tasted  death.  And  the  three  Evangelists,  who  record  the 
conversation,  do  one  and  all  proceed  immediately  to  relate  the 
fact  of  the  Transfiguration,  which  took  place  a  week  after, 
when  Peter,  James  and  John  were  permitted  to  behold  him  in 
his  glory,  Luke  ix.  32.  While  Peter,  himself  a  witness  of  the 
wondrous  vision,  refers  to  it,  as  the  manifestation  of  the  power 


60 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 


and  presence  of  Jesus  in  his  Majesty.  2  Pet.  i.  16 — 18.  Against 
this  view,  however,  of  the  subject,  Mr.  G.,  argues,  Jirst,  that  "the 
declaration,  "Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  there  be  some  standing 
liere,"  &c.;  not  only  indicates  that  the  event  foretold  would  be 
remarkable  and  uncommon,  but  also,  that  its  peculiarity  consisted, 
not  in  the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  his  kingdom,  but  in  some,  who 
were  then  standing  there,  not  tasting  of  death  before  that  time.'' 
In  shewing  the  connection,  in  which  the  words  really  stand, 
we  have,  by  anticipation,  met  this  argument.  For  if  these 
words  form  the  close  of  a  continuous  discourse  relating  to  the 
coming  of  the  Son  of  Man,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the 
subject  is  immediately  abandoned,  and  that  an  abrupt  promise 
of  longevity,  totally  unconnected  with  the  matter  in  hand,  is 
addressed  to  some  of  the  auditors,  and  linked  to  the  original 
exhortation  by  words,  apparently  similar  in  sense,  and  nearly 
so  in  expression,  but  utterly  dissimilar  in  the  covert  meaning 
intended  to  be  conveyed.  The  promise  is  not  a  promise 
of  longevity,  but  a  promise,  that  while  yet  in  the  flesh,  they 
should  see  the  Coming- One,  i?i  his  kingdom;  the  sole  peculiarity 
being,  that  this  marvellous  pledge  should  be  afforded  to  some 
of  them,  that  the  Son  of  Man  shall,  indeed,  come  in  the  glory 
of  the  Father  and  reward  his  servants.  Secondly,  Mr.  Gipps, 
cot/Id  not  see,  how  a  brief  transfiguration  a  few  days  after  can 
be  considered  as  his  "coming  in  his  kingdom,"  or  as  in  Mark 
xi.,  "the  kingdom  of  God  coming  with  power."  But  St.  Peter 
could; — the  very  word  in  Mark,  to  which  Mr.  Gipps  referred 
as  so  staggeringly  emphatic,  («v  Suvujuu,)  iti  power,  is  that  precisely, 
which  the  eye-witness  of  the  transfiguration  employs  to  ex- 
press that  characteristic  of  Messiah  in  glory,  which  was  proved 
by  that  very  event  to  be  no  cunningly  devised  fable,  which 
was  declared  by  him,  the  power,  ((fuva^/v,)  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  2  Pet.  i.  16.  Thirdly,  Mr.  Gipps  discovered  a  coinci- 
dence between  this  promise  directly  made  before  the  transfi- 
guration, and  another  statement,  which  contained  no  promise, 
interpreted  as  referring  to  John  in  the  record  itself,  which  was 
spoken  after  the  resurrection,  John  xxi.  23.  So  far  was  it  from 
being  a  promise  of  protracted  life  to  John,  that  he  himself  ex- 
pressly says,  Jesus  said  not  unto  him.  He  shall  7iot  die,  but  if  i 
WILL  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee.  "If  I  will;" — 
is  this  the  language  of  promise,  or  of  prophecy?  Is  it  not  the 
mere  expression  of  the  possibility  of  its  being  Messiah's  will, 
that  John  should  continue  till  he  came?  It  matters  not  what 
historians  relate  of  his  surviving  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  thirty 
years.  The  fall  of  Jerusalem  is  not  identical  with  the  coming 
of  the  Son  of  Man.  Strange  that  he  should  have  been  thought 
to  have  come  then,  by  those,  who  deny  him  to  have  been  seen 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  Ql 

coming  on  the  holy  mount,  by  Peter,  James  and  John.  If 
there  was  intended  to  be  any  intimation  given,  John  xxi.  23, 
that  John  should  not  die  before  the  Son  of  Man  came,  then 
is  he  certainly  still  living,  and  has  never  seen  death.  The  pas- 
sage can  admit  of  no  other  interpretation.  Mr.  Gipps  was 
again  misled  by  his  coincidences.  But  he  adduces  "a  similar 
declaration  concerning  Christ's  coming.  Matt.  x.  23.  <When 
they  persecute  you  in  this  city,  flee  ye  into  another;  for  verily 
I  say  unto  you,  ye  shall  not  have  gone  over  the  cities  of  Israel 
till  the  Son  of  Man  be  come.'  Here,"  he  adds,  ''Jesus  declar- 
ed to  the  Apostles  that  some  coming  of  his  zoould  take  place,  be- 
fore they  had  gone  through  all  the  cities  of  Israel  to  preach  the 
Gospel."  He  thus  leaves  it.  But  we  must  not  leave  it  here. 
This  chapter  contains  at  length  those  ample  instructions  ad- 
dressed to  the  twelve,  on  being  appointed  to  the  exercise  of 
the  Apostolic  office,  wherein  he  informed  them  of  the  treat- 
ment they  should  receive  at  a  subsequent  period  from  the  Gen- 
tiles, (v.  19.)  and  the  consequences,  which  should  result  to 
others,  upon  the  reception  of  the  Gospel  (v.  21.)  insomuch 
that  the  nearest  relatives  should  deliver  up  the  faithful  confes- 
sors of  the  truth  to  death.  He  then  addeth,  what  is  applicable 
to  the  case  of  all  disciples  as  well  to  them,  "Ye  shall  be  hated 
of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake;  but  he  that  endureth  to  the  end 
shall  be  saved;  but  when  they  persecute  you  in  this  city,"  &c., 
then  follow  the  words  under  consideration,  in  connection  with 
which  nineteen  verses  of  general  application  are  appended.  I 
judge,  therefore,  that  the  verse  in  question,  from  the  connec- 
tion in  which  it  stands,  is  not  to  be  considered  as  exclusively 
addressed  to  the  Apostles  themselves.  The  commission  given 
to  them  to  disciple  all  nations,  with  the  annexed  promise,  that 
Christ  would  be  with  them  to  the  consummation  of  the  age, 
■with  which  His  Gospel  concludes,  is  considered  to  be  of  uni- 
versal obligation,  and  to  bear  equally  on  the  case  of  those, 
who  have  succeeded  to  their  labours,  and  yet  that  commission 
embraces  not  even  a  distant  allusion  to  any  other  labourers  in 
the  vineyard  than  themselves.  Can  I  then  be  wrong  in  con- 
cluding, when  such  an  allusion  is  made,  that  they  are  not  them- 
selves the  only  individuals  referred  to  in  a  passage,  thus  em- 
bodied, in  so  general  a  discourse?  I  am  aware  that  the  words 
are  commonly  interpreted  to  relate  to  the  itinerary  of  the 
Apostles,  through  the  towns  of  Judea.  But  the  words,  ye  shall 
not  finish  (tsass-dts)  the  cities  of  Israel,  rather  refer  to  a  work  to  be 
accomplished  on  the  cities  of  Israel,  that  to  a  mere  visitation 
of  them.  This  same  verb  I  find  employed  by  Christ  in  that 
expiring  utterance,  by  which  he  expressed  the  perfection  of  his 
atonement,  (Trnxe^Tiu)  It  is  finished.  John  xix.  30.  Paul  uses 
30* 


Q2  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

it  to  denote  the  perfection  of  legal  righteousness;  "shall  not 
uncircumcision,  which  is  by  nature,  if  it  fulfil  (tsaous-*)  the  law, 
judge  thee,"  &c. ;  Rom.  ii.  27.  James  likewise  employs  it  in 
the  same  sense;  "If  ye  fulfil  Tsxem  the  royal  law."  Jam.  ii.  8. 
I  regard  our  Lord  therefore  as  saying,  not,  ye  shall  not  finish 
TOUR  TOUR  of  the  cities,  but  ye  shall  notfinish  the  reformation 
of  the  cities  of  Israel,  ye  shall  not  perfect  these  cities,  till  the  Son 
of  Man  become.  Observe  now  the  words  are  the  cities  of  Is- 
rael. Is  there  not  a  reference  here  to  the  unrestored  ten 
tribes?  They  were  not  then  in  the  land,  and  could  not  then 
have  been  visited.  Their  restoration  shall  not  take  place  till 
after  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man;  Isa.  Ixvi.  20,  and  their 
moral  visitation  shall  not  therefore  be  effected  till  then.  But 
suppose  the  ordinary  rendering  to  be  correct,  even  a  literal 
visit  to  the  cities  of  their  sojourn,  where  they  are  concealed 
till  the  end  come,  shall  not  be  effected  even  by  missionary  la- 
bours, till  the  Lord's  return.  Further,  if  the  cities  are  to  be 
understood  of  the  actual  cities  then  existing  in  Canaan,  the 
statement  admits  of  a  just  Scriptural  exposition,  without,  for  a 
moment,  acquiescing  in  Mr.  Gipps'  view  of  the  subject.  The 
Apostles  were  sent  on  this  embassy  at  an  early  period  of 
Christ's  ministry,  and  the  circumstance  of  their  being  thus 
commissioned  is  actually  related  six  chapters  before  the  ac- 
count of  the  transfiguration.  But  we  have  already  proved  that 
three  of  the  Apostles  then  saw  the  Messiah  as  the  Coming-One 
in  his  kingdom.  Christ  may  therefore  have  designed  to  inti- 
mate, that  they  should  not  have  gone  through  the  cities  of  Israel 
before  this  vision  of  himself,  as  the  Coming-One,  had  taken 
place. 

PROPHECY  OF  THE  JUDGMENT. — Matt.  Xxiv. 

Mr.  Gipps  would  have  it,  however,  that  it  is  a  figurative  com- 
ing of  Christ  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  that  is  referred  to 
above,  and  "in  confirmation  of  this"  he  appealed  to  the  very 
solemn  and  obscure  prediction  of  our  Lord  in  reply  to  the 
double  question  of  the  disciples,  vchen  shall  these  things  be?  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple,  "and  what  shall  be 
the  sign  of  thy  coming,  and  of  the  consummation  of  the  age?" 
Matt.  xxiv.  4.  In  his  elaborate  reply  he  both  describes  the 
ruin  of  the  city,  and  the  awful  events,  which  siiall  precede  and 
accompany  his  own  lightning-like  coming.  I  say  it  is  obscure 
from  the  manner,  in  which,  according  to  prophetic  usage,  the 
two  events  are  intertwined,  and  the  manner  in  which  commen- 
tators have  treated  it.  To  unfold  it  in  all  its  bearings,  as  it 
ouglit  to  be,  would  occupy  a  treatise  as  long  as  Mr.  Gipps'  own, 
and  I  therefore  refer  you,  in  the  mean  time,  to  a  paper  of  great 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  53 

value  on  the  subject,  under  the  signature  of  M.  in  the  Chris- 
tian Herald,  vol.  iii.  p.  188.  Though  I  agree  not  with  the 
whole  of  the  article,  yet  it  is  abundantly  sufficient  to  prove, 
that  Mr.  G.'s  theory  of  interpretation  is  erroneous.  I  may, 
however,  in  passing,  put  a  few  questions  on  the  subject,  which 
may  tend  to  disentangle  the  prediction  from  the  knotted  mass, 
into  which  modern  Interpreters  have  brought  it.  Was  the 
sun  darkened,  did  the  moon  withdraw  her  light,  did  the  stars 
fall  from  heaven,  and  were  the  powers  of  heaven  shaken,  at 
the  fall  of  Jerusalem?  I  may  be  answered,  that  all  this  was 
effected  symbolically,  as  it  affected  the  Jewish  state.  But  the 
Jewish  state  had  long  previously  become  a  non-entity.  Pro- 
digies in  the  heavens,  it  may  be  rejoined,  are  related  by  Jose- 
phus,  to  have  taken  place.  I  ask,  admitting  them  to  have 
really  taken  place,  (though  I  suspect  them  to  be  as  apocryphal 
as  any  related  by  Livy,)  were  they  prodigies  such  as  these? 
Was  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man  noticed  in  heaven?  Seeing 
him  come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  with  power  and  great  glory, 
"did  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  mourn?"  Did  his  own  {aurov) 
messengers  issue  forth,  with  a  trumpet  of  great  compass,  and 
gather  together  his  own  (mtou)  elect,  (whom  I  believe  to  be  the 
144,000  sealed  of  Israel,)  from  the  four  winds,  from  the  one 
end  of  heaven  to  the  other?  Was  that  the  day  and  hour,  of 
which  no  man  knew  any  thing  save  the  Father  only?  Was 
that  the  period,  which  was  antitypical  to  the  day  of  Noah? 
Was  that  the  day,  in  the  expectation  of  which  the  Church  is 
required  to  watch,  to  stand  in  readiness  as  against  a  thief,  or  as 
servants  in  obedient  fulfilment  of  duty,  awaiting  their  Lord's 
return?  He,  who  can  answer  these  questions,  in  the  affirma- 
tive, should  never  complain  of  the  imaginative  powers  or  credu- 
lity of  others.  Yet  must  all  these  questions  be  so  answered, 
before  it  can  be  shewn  that  this  prophecy  speaks  of  Christ  as 
coming  in  any  sense  at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem.  I  know  there  is 
yet  one  resort,  which  such  expositors  have  recourse  to,  "this 
generation  shall  not  pass  till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled."  Mede 
proposes  to  translate  >svsa  ?iatio?i — this  nation  shall  not  pass,  in 
which  he  is  now  followed  by  Faber;  but  I  prefer  Faber's  former 
criticism,  who  is  no  Millenarian,  this  generation  shall  not  pass 
till  q,ll  these  things  be  a-fulfilling,  or  be  put  in  the  course  of  ful- 
filment, such  being  the  force  of  the  Greek  Aorist.  Or  it  may 
mean  this  race  (that  is  the  Jews,)  though  they  shall  be  de- 
stroyed as  an  sSvo?,  a  state  or  community  living  together,  shall 
be  preserved  till  all,  &c.  An  extra  attempt  to  pin  down  all  this 
prophecy  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  is  made  by  Mr.  Gipps, 
by  appealing  to  the  closing  words  of  the 


g4  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE,  AND  ALL  THE  TREES.       Luke  Xxi. 

which  is  incorporated  into  the  prophecy  by  both  Evangelists, 
in  their  record  of  what  the  Lord  said  on  the  occasion,  and 
which  he  affirms  to  be  "connected  with  the  time  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem."  How  it  is  so  connected  he  has  not  in- 
formed us.  But  what  saith  the  Parable?  as  the  Fig-tree  shoot- 
eth  forth  at  the  approach  of  summer,  "so  likewise  ye,  when  ye 
see  these  things  come  to  pass,  know  ye  that  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  nigh  at  hand.  There  is  no  resemblance  between  the 
shooting  forth  of  a  fig-tree,  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
The  fall  of  the  city  was  more  analogous  to  the  fall  of  the  leaf 
and  the  approach  of  winter,  than  to  the  budding  honours  of  a 
forest  and  the  approach  of  summer.  But  perhaps  there  was 
some  confusion  here,  and  that  the  parable  really  in  Mr.  Gipps' 
mind  was  that  of  the  Fig-tree  alone,  Luke  xiii.  6 — 9,  which 
having  three  years  been  visited  by  the  Lord  of  the  Vineyard, 
as  the  Jewish  Church  was  by  the  Saviour,  through  the  corre- 
sponding period  of  his  ministry,  and  found  to  be  still  barren, 
was  nevertheless  allowed  to  continue  a  short  space,  as  a  cum- 
berer  of  the  ground,  in  the  gracious  hope,  that  being  carefully 
attended  to  by  Apostles  and  Evangelists,  it  might  yet  blossom 
and  bud  and  bring  forth  fruit  to  perfection,  the  fearful  alterna- 
tive being,  that  it  should  be  cut  down  without  mercy  should 
no  fruit  be  discovered.  I  can  understand  how  this  parable 
might  have  been  running  in  the  mind  of  our  author,  which  he 
may  very  properly  have  connected  with  the  destruction  of  Je- 
rusalem; and  I  can  further  understand  how  he  might,  very 
naturally,  and  very  properly  also,  have  viewed  it,  as  illustrated 
by  the  symbolic  action  of  our  Lord,  on  his  departure  from 
Bethany,  the  morrow  after  his  triumphant  entry  into  Jerusa- 
lem, when  "seeing  a  fig-tree  afar  off,  having  leaves,  he  came, 
if  haply  he  might  find  any  thing  thereon;  and  when  he  came 
to  it  he  found  nothing  but  leaves,  for,  was  it  not  tlic  time  of 
figs?"  I  read  this  interrogatively,  the  season  for  gathering  figs 
was  not  arrived,  and  therefore  he  ought  to  have  found  them 
thereon;  "and  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  it,  no  man  eat 
fruit  of  thee  hereafter  for  or  to  the  age,"  Mark  xi.  12,  14.  I 
must  detain  you  with  a  few  remarks  on 

THE  GOSPEL  KINGDOM. 

There  is  scarcely  a  more  common  phrase  than  this,  yet  has 
it  no  scripture  warrant.  It  is  still  less  correct  than  that,  with 
which  the  platforms  of  our  societies  abound,  where  we  so  often 
hear  "the  extension  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,"  spoken  of. 
This  latter  may  be  understood,  though  not  intended,  scrip- 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  65 

turally,  if  we  attach  to  it  the  sense  1  have  spoken  of,  as  de- 
signed to  be  conveyed  by  the  formula,  the  kingdom  of  Heaven 
in  the  parables.  The  gospel  can  neither  r€ig?i  nor  be  reigned 
over.  The  word  itself  is  but  an  abbreviation  of  the  larger 
phrase  "The  glad  tidings  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Heavens." 
This  is  one  instance  of  the  inaccuracy,  with  which  men  allow 
themselves  to  quote  Scripture.  A  further  plea  is  advanced  in 
support  of  the  notion,  that  Christ  came,  as  affirmed,  at  the  siege 
of  Jerusalem,  because,  as  stated,  the  Scriptures  constantly  refer 
to  his  various 

FIGURATIVE  COMINGS. 

This  wov  A  figurative,  on  which  we  shall  hereafter  have  more 
to  observe,  is  often  a  good  help  to  spiritualizers.  I  deny  that 
there  is,  or  ever  has  been,  any  coming  of  Christ,  which  can 
be  c^\\q(\  figurative.  He  did  not  come  in  a  figure  when  he  was 
born  of  the  Virgin;  he  will  not  come  in  a  figure  when  every 
eye  shall  see  him.  Neither  is  the  coming  of  the  Comforter  to 
the  church,  as  the  manifester  of  Jesus,  a  figure.  And  if  this  be 
no  figure,  neither  is  the  promise,  which  accompanied  it,  of  the 
abiding  presence  of  the  'I'hree  in  One,  with  the  lovers  of  Jesus, 
a  figure.  *'If  any  man  love  me  he  will  keep  my  words;  and 
my  father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  and  make  our  abode 
with  him,  John  xiv.  23.  Is  it  a  figure  that  Christ  is  formed, 
in  such,  the  hope  of  glory — that  he  is  one  with  them  and  they 
are  one  with  him — that  they  shall  continue  in  the  Son  and  in 
the  Father?  Can  such  a  truth  as  this  be  confounded,  by  any 
of  the  Lord's  children,  with  the  predictions  of  Christ's  coming 
in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  with  the  glory  of  his  Father,  accom- 
panied by  his  own  angels?  I  argue  now  on  the  idea  that  the 
above  words  have  the  meaning  usually  ascribed  to  them,  but  I 
rather  regard  them  as  containing  a  prophecy  of  Christ's  future 
coming  to  his  church,  as  their  abiding  friend  and  counsellor, 
when  he  shall  no  more  remove  himself  from  the  midst  of  them. 
I  am  the  more  inclined  to  this  view  of  the  subject,  from  the 
language,  which  he  adopts  in  the  close  of  the  epistle  to  the  an- 
gel of  the  church  of  Laodicea.  But  of  this  in  its  order,  for 
this  likewise  is  appealed  to  as  a  coming  in  a  figure,  with  va- 
rious other  notices  of  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  in  the  epistles 
to  the  seven  churches,  at  which  we  must  now  glance  seriatim. 

I  must  premise,  that  while  there  was  an  applicability  in 
these  various  epistles  to  the  circumstances  and  histories  of  the 
various  churches,  which  are  named,  yet  are  they  to  be  con- 
sidered of  just  the  same  general  character  with  the  inspired 
epistles  of  the  apostles  of  our  Lord — Nay  more,  as  being  them- 
selves predictions,  prefixed  to  the  most  symbolical  of  all  books 


65  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

of  prophecy,  they  are  to  be  regarded  as  embodying  the  practi- 
cal conckisions,  which  it  is  essential  we  should  draw  from  the 
contemplation  of  those  revealed  purposes  of  the  Almighty,  yet 
to  be  developed  in  act.  There  is  something  in  the  very  struc- 
ture of  these  epistles,  which  prepares  us  at  once  to  expect 
something  of  more  general  concernment  than  the  mere  local 
circumstances,  that  affected  these  particular  churches.  Sexeyi 
characteristics  are  employed  in  the  preceding  vision  to  mark 
out  the  regal  dignity  and  glory  of  Jesus.  One  of  these  seven- 
fold features  of  the  son  of  God,  in  his  apocalypse,  is  selected  to 
be  prefixed,  rather  than  his  own  name,  to  each  of  the  seve?i 
epistles,  till  the  whole  have  been  enumerated  in  rotation.  He 
is,  amongst  other  attributes,  described  as  the  possessor  of  the 
sete?}  spirits,  and  of  the  seven  stars,  and  I  therefore  regard  his 
addresses  to  the  seven  angels,  as  forming  one  complete  exhorta- 
tion, according  to  the  mystic  import  of  the  word  seven,  to  the 
church  universal,  from  the  great  Bishop  and  Shepherd  of  souls. 
In  this  judgment  I  am  further  warranted  by  the  remarkable 
conclusion  to  each,  "he  that  hath  an  ear  let  him  hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  unto  the  Churches;"  not,  let  it  be  remembered,  to 
this  church  or  to  that  church,  or  to  the  seven  churches,  but  to 
the  churches.  They  have  all,  moreover,  a  direct  bearing  on  the 
period  of  the  second  advent,  and  chiefly  concern  the  church  at 
that  juncture.  For  instance  the  Spirit's  promise  to  the  con- 
queror, that  he  shall  "eat  of  the  tree  of  life  in  the  midst  of  the 
paradise  of  God,"  Rev.  ii.  7.  comp.  xxii.  2;  that  he  shall  "not 
be  hurt  of  the  second  death,"  Rev.  ii.  11,  comp.  xx.  6;  that  he 
shall  receive  a  stone  inscribed  with  a  new  name  unknown  to 
all  but  himself.  Rev.  ii.  17,  comp.  xix.  12;  that  he  shall  be  given 
the  morning  star,  Rev.  ii.  28,  comp.  xx.  16,  and  2  Pet.  i.  19; 
that  he  shall  be  clothed  in  white  raiment,  remain  unblotted 
from  the  book  of  life,  and  be  confessed  before  the  Father,  Rev. 
iii.  5,  comp.  Rev.  ix.  14 — xvii.  12,  xxi.  27.  and  Matt.  x.  32; 
that  he  shall  be  a  pillar  in  the  temple  and  go  no  more  out,  and 
be  inscribed  with  the  name  of  the  New  Jerusalem  descending 
from  God,  and  with  the  new  name  of  Jesus,  Rev.  iii.  12,  comp. 
xxi.;  that  he  shall  have  power  over  the  nations,  rule  them  with 
a  rod  of  iron,  and  sit  down  with  Jesus  on  his  own  throne,  even 
as  he  has  sat  down  with  the  Father  on  his  throne.  Rev.  ii.  27,  iii. 
21,  comp.  Rev.  xii.  5,  xx.  4,  all  these  promises  assuredly  re- 
late to  a  time  yet  future.  Add  to  these  some  direct  references 
to  the  last  times,  which  must  relate  to  the  church  at  the  final 
crisis  of  her  militant  estate;  as  for  instance,  the  address  to  Per- 
gamos  is  to  one,  who  dwelleth  where  Satan's  Throne  is.  It 
is  vain  to  say  that  this  pre-eminence  in  evil  belonged  to  Per- 
gamos,  because  of  its  extraordinary  wealth,  but  refer  to  Rev. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  67 

xiii.  2,  8,  and  see  if  it  be  not  connected  with  universal  domi- 
nation as  exercised  against  the  saints,  such  as  never  was  pos- 
sessed or  exercised  by  Pergamos.  Again,  censure  is  passed 
on  the  same  angel  for  encouragement  afforded  to  those,  who 
held  the  nefarious  doctrine  of  Balaam,  who,  when  he  could  not 
destroy  Israel,  through  covetousness,  advised  that  their  ruin 
should  be  compassed  by  seducing  them  into  idolatry.  Now 
two  apostles  refer  to  this  very  Balaam  as  the  type  of  the  final 
apostacy.  Peter,  in  making  known  the  power  and  coming  of 
our  Lord  Jesus,  and  enforcing  duty  with  reference  to  the  day 
of  God,  proceeds  to  forewarn  us  of  the  false  prophets,  who  are 
to  arise,  through  covetousness  making  merchandise  of  us  with 
feigned  words,  "which  have  forsaken  the  right  way,  and  are 
gone  astray,  following  the  way  of  Balaam,  the  son  of  Bosor, 
who  loved  the  wages  of  unrighteousness,  but  was  rebuked,  for 
his  iniquity,  the  dumb  ass  speaking  with  man's  voice  having 
forbidden  the  madness  of  the  prophet,"  2  Pet.  ii.  1 — 3,  15,  16. 
While  Jude  more  briefly  notices  the  matter  v.  11,  "woe  unto 
them,  for  they  have  walked  in  the  way  of  Cain,  rushed  eagerly 
on  in  the  error  of  Balaam  for  reward,  and  perished  in  the  gain- 
saying of  Core."  But  besides  these  remarkable  references  to 
the  future,  I  meet  with  these  striking  words  in  the  epistle 
to  Philadelphia,  "because  thou  hast  kept  the  word  of  my  pa- 
tience, I  also  will  keep  thee  from  the  hour  of  temptation, 
which  shall  come  upon  all  the  world,  to  try  them  that  dwell 
upon  the  earth,"  Rev.  iii.  10.  This  promise  must  surely  re- 
gard the  faithful  m  the  season  of  temptation,  {t»; y.iXKoucn\Q  if>xi<r^a.t) 
which  shall  hereafter  come  on  the  rohole  Oikoumene,  inhabited 
EARTH,  of  which  we  meet  with  a  description,  Isa.  xxiv.  17 — 23; 
Dan.  xii.  1;  2  Thess.  ii.  S — 12.  These  considerations  all  lead 
me  to  the  full  conviction  that  the  seve?i  epistles,  while  they 
were  specially  addressed  to  the  churches  named,  were  only 
addressed  to  them  in  type,  and  were  designed  for  the  church 
in  its  septiform  condition,  at  the  time  of  the  end;  and  such 
substantially  is  the  view  of  the  learned  Vitringa,  who  was  not 
a  millenarian.  This  being  the  case,  I  now  come  to  the  exami- 
nation of  those  passages  in  them,  to  which  Mr.  Gipps  refers, 
as  expressive  of  certain  Jigiirative  comings  of  Christ. 

I.  He  thus  begins: — "To  the  Angel  of  Ephesus  it  is  said,  "I 
will  come  unto  thee  quickly,  and  will  remove  thy  candlestick 
out  of  its  place,  except  thou  repent."  Rev.  ii.  5.  The  pros- 
pect of  Christ's  coming  is  constantly,  through  Scripture,  pressed 
on  the  conscience  of  the  believer,  and  of  the  Minister  in  par- 
ticular, as  a  motive  of  action.  Thus,  1  Thess.  ii.  19,  Paul  asks, 
as  concerning  himself,  "what  is  our  hope,  or  joy,  or  crown  of 
rejoicing?  are  not  even  ye,  in  the  presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus 


gg  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

Christ,  AT  HIS  COMING."  It  is  in  the  view  of  Christ's  coming 
and  the  position  they  will  then  occupy,  as  having  by  him  been 
built  on  the  true  foundation,  that  he  considers  them  his  glory 
and  joy;  because  like  the  purer  metals  and  the  precious  stones 
they  will  withstand  the  trial  of  the  fire.  See  1  Cor.  iii.  11 — 14. 
Now,  in  exact  contrast  to  the  case  of  Paul,  but  looking  on- 
ward, just  to  the  same  event,  the  Presbytery  are  addressed  in 
the  person  of  the  Ephesian  angel,  and  threatened  with  the  loss 
of  their  candlestick  or  church;  or  its  removal  from  the  place 
it  occupied  with  reference  to  Jesus.  Its  proper  place  was  not 
Ephesus,  defiled  with  the  deeds  of  the  Nicolaitanes,  but  the  Pe- 
riphery of  that  circle,  in  the  midst  of  which  stood  the  Son  of 
Man  in  all  his  glory.  He  came  not  to  root  out  a  church  from 
the  city  of  Diana,  but  he  will  come  to  level  with  the  dust  the 
pretensions  of  every  unrepentant  professing  church,  and  then 
shall  they,  who  laboured  in  the  word  and  doctrine,  amongst 
them,  lose  their  reward,  even  though  they  themselves  were 
personally  faithful. 

2.  We  are  next  referred  to  "His  comitig  quickly  to  the  Church 
of  Pergamos  to  Jight  against  those,  who  hold  the  doctrine  of  the 
JVicolaitanes,^'  (Rev.  ii.  22,  25) — as  he  will  also  against  those, 
who  hold  the  doctrine  of  Balaam.  We  have  already  shewn, 
that  this  doctrine  has  reference  to  a  future  period;  to  that  last 
form  of  delusion,  which  shall  arise  before  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  Man.  Eichorn,  a  German  Theologian,  from  whom  Mr. 
Irving  seems  reluctantly  to  dissent,  considers  the  Balaam  and 
the  Nicolas  to  be  the  same  persons  from  the  remarkable  iden- 
tity in  the  import  of  their  names,  the  one  in  Hebrew  and  the 
other  in  Greek,  denoting  the  Conqueror  of  the  people.  I  believe 
the  doctrine  to  be  the  same,  but  the  individuals  to  be  different, 
though  allied  enemies  of  the  Lord — the  latter  being  the  anti- 
type of  Balak.  I  see  them  both  developed  in  the  history  of 
the  two  beasts  of  Rev.  xiii.  The  Balak  being  the  last  head  of 
the  ten-horned  beast  set  up,  as  the  true  Antichrist,  for  univer- 
sal adoration;  and  the  Balaam  being  the  governing  head  of  the 
two  horned  beast  in  his  last  estate,  the  false  Prophet.  They 
are  both  confederate  for  the  same  evil  purpose,  and  exercise 
concurrently  a  mysterious  power  "over  all  kindreds,  and 
tongues  and  people."  The  church,  which  can  endure,  in  the 
midst  of  her,  the  maintainers  of  such  a  doctrine,  is  called  on 
to  repent,  or  she  will  be  involved  in  the  same  ruin  with  the 
beast  and  the  false  prophet,  at  the  coming  of  Christ;  for  he  will 
fight  against  henoith  the  sword  of  his  mouth,  the  very  instrument 
wherewith  he  is  described  as  fighting  with  the  Beast,  and  the 
false  Prophet,  Rev.  xix.  15 — 21.  The  identity  of  character, 
of  name,  and  of  end,  completely  establish  this  point.     As  (here 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  QQ 

were  many  Antichrists  in  John's  days,  so  I  doubt  not  there 
was  much  of  the  Balaam  and  Balak  delusion  abroad,  against 
which,  it  was  important  to  caution  the  infant  church,  and  they 
also  were  required  to  direct  their  faith  and  their  hope  onward 
to  the  final  issue,  as  was  the  church  at  Thessalonica;  "The  Lord 
make  you  to  increase  and  abound  in  love,  one  toward  another, 
and  toward  all  men,  even  as  we  do  toward  you;  to  the  end  he 
may  establish  you  hearts,  unblameable  in  holiness  before  God, 
even  our  father,  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with 
all  his  saints,"  1  Thess.  iii.  12 — 13.  Who  ever  regarded  this 
as  a  figurative  coming,  and  yet  was  it  written  to,  and  of  men, 
who  have  been  above  seventeen  centuries  asleep  in  Jesus? 

3.  We  are  directed  to  the  coming  in  Jigure  "against  the  an- 
tinomian  characters  in  the  church  at  Thyatira,  Rev.  ii.  22 — 25." 
I  admit  there  is  a  coming  spoken  of,  but  not  against  Thyatira. 
"That  which  ye  have,  hold  fast  till  I  come,"  (ver.  25.)  are  the 
words  of  exhortation  to  the  faithful  themselves,  answering  in 
substance  precisely,  to  the  words  last  quoted  from  Thessalo- 
nians.  They  follow  indeed,  the  intimation  given  of  the  fearful 
end  of  the  woman  Jezebel,  and  her  paramours;  the  very  counter- 
part she  is  of  the  woman  that  rideth  the  Beast,  Rev.  xvii.  She 
is  the  apostate  church,  with  whom  spiritual  fornication  is  com- 
mitted. Her  ruin  is  attributed  to  Jesus  truly;  "Behold  I  will 
cast  her  into  a  bed,  and  them  that  commit  adultery  with  her, 
into  great  tribulation;"  but  this  is  not  stated  to  be  effected  by 
him,  at  the  period  of  his  coming.  Neither  is  the  ruin  of  the 
whore  of  Babylon.  She  is  to  be  desolated  by  the  tefi  hor?is, 
Rev.  xvii.  16,  for  God  shall  put  it  into  their  hearts  to  fulfil  his 
will,  and  great  tribulation  shall  ensue  to  her  paramours,  Rev. 
xviii.  9 — 11 — 15 — 19.  Such  is  the  connection,  in  which  these 
words  stand;  and,  from  the  whole  tone  of  the  epistle,  it  is  quite 
obvious  that  it  is  to  the  second  advent  of  the  Lord  Jesus  we 
are  referred,  when  we  are  required  to  hold  fast  that,  which  we 
have. 

4.  Appeal  is  now  made  to  "His  coming  as  a  thief  upon  the 
church  of  Sardis,"  (Rev.  iii.  3.)  What  other  coming  can  this 
possibly  refer  to,  than  that  spoken  of?  Matt.  xxiv.  43.  "Know 
this,  that  if  the  good  man  of  the  house  had  known  in  what  watch 
the  thief  would  come,  he  would  have  watched,  and  would  not 
have  suffered  his  house  to  be  broken  up.  Therefore,  be  ye 
also  ready,  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not,  the  Son  of  Man 
Cometh."  What  else  can  it  denote  than  what  is  referred  to,  1 
Thess.  V.  1 — 2.  But  of  the  times  and  the  seasons,  "brethren, 
ye  have  no  need  that  I  write  unto  you.  For  yourselves  know 
perfectly,  that  the. day  of  the  Lord  so  cometh,  as  a  thief  in  the 
night."     Who  ever  was  so  wedded  to  system  as  to  regard  this 

VOL.  III. — 31 


70  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

as  descriptive,  not  of  the  second  coming  of  Jesus,  but  of  the 
hour  of  death?  Has  not  Peter  said  the  "day  of  the  Lord  will 
come,  (not  the  day  of  death)  as  a  thief  in  the  night;  in  which 
the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise;  and  the  ele- 
ments shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  &c."  2  Pet.  iii.  20.  And 
finally,  is  not  this  gracious  warning  prefixed  to  the  account  of 
the  dreadful  day  of  Armageddon?  "Bebgld  I  come  as  a  thief. 
Blessed  is  he  that  watcheth,  and  keepellr^is  garments,  lest  he 
walk  naked,  and  they  see  his  shame."  Rev.  xvi. 

5.  The  next  reference  is  more  extraordinary  still,  "His  com- 
ing in  the  judgments,  which  he  was  about  to  execute  on  the 
Roman  empire,  and  from  which  he  promised  to  keep  the  church 
at  Philadelphia,"  (Rev.  iii.  10,  11.)  Really  it  is  too  much  to 
assume  at  once  the  reference  to  Rome,  with  which  there  is  no- 
thing whatever  to  identify  the  prediction,  and  the  character  of 
the  Coming.  I  have  already  spoken  of  the  first  verse,  and  re- 
ferred to  other  Scriptures  for  the  import  of  the  hour  of  tempta- 
tion, which  is  assuredly  yet  future.  But  whatever  it  be,  it  is 
not  identified  necessarily  with  the  Coming,  which  is  thus  spoken 
of  separately — •'Behold,  I  come  quickly;  hold  that  fast  which 
thou  hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown,"  Rev.  iii.  11.  Is  not 
this  as  applicable  to  us  as  to  them?  Was  it  on  the  downfall  of 
Rome  this  crown  was  to  be  awarded  or  periled?  If  I  be  cor- 
rect in  my  reading  of  Scripture  it  is  only  to  be  conferred  in 
the  same  day  with  Paul's.  "Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for 
me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous 
judge  shall  give  me  at  that  day,  and  not  to  me  only,  but  to 
ALL  THEM  also  that  love  his  appearing."  2  Tim.  iv.  S.  If 
those  of  Thyatira,  here  spoken  of,  were  amongst  the  all,  who 
love  the  appearing  of  Jesus,  then  must  they  wait  till  that  day 
to  receive  their  crown — but  that  day  is  the  day  of  Christ's  ap- 
pearing, that  concerning  which  he  hath  said,  behold,  I  come 
quickly. 

6.  "We  are  directed  to  his  coming  in  and  supping  zvilh  any 
individual  believer  in  the  corrupt  church  of  Laodicea,  who 
should  opeji  the  door,  that  is,  of  the  church,  at  the  door  or  out- 
side of  which  Jesus  declares  himself  to  be  standing."  The 
words,  referred  to,  immediately  follow  a  general  call  to  repent- 
ance, and  are  introductory  to  that  promise  of  a  crown  to  the 
conqueror,  already  noticed.  I  have  no  doubt  whatever,  that 
they  contain  a  promise  of  participation  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb.  "Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door 
and  knock;  if  any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I 
will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me." 
The  interposing  door  I  believe  to  be  that  qf  the  heart  and  not 
merely  of  the  church,  seeing  we  are  individually  spoken  to — 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  71 

the  promise  is,  that  if  it  be  opened  to  receive  him  at  his  sum- 
mons, they  who  open  it  shall  sup  together  with  him  at  his 
Coming.  To  the  denunciation  against  the  rich,  who  heap  up 
treasure  together  for  the  last  days,  this  exhortation,  with 
reference  to  the  second  advent,  is  appended — "Be  patient, 
therefore,  brethren,  unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  Behold  the 
husbandman  waiteth  for  the  precious  fruit  of  the  earth,  and 
hath  long  patience  for  it,  until  he  receive  the  early  and  latter 
rain.  Be  ye  also  patient;  stablish  your  hearts;  for  the  coming 
of  the  Lord  draii^eth  nigh.  Grudge  not  against  another,  brethren, 
lest  ye  be  condemned;  Behold,  the  Judge  standeth  before  the  door.'' 
James  v.  7,  9.  The  demand  for  admission  is  made — his  per- 
sonal appeal  to  the  heart  and  the  affections  is  enforced.  The 
supper  is  ready — But,  as  the  master  of  the  house  long  absent, 
he  shall  speedily  make  a  claim  for  admission  into  his  proper 
dwelling  the  church  also.  Alas!  that  so  many  of  his  servants 
should  have  said  in  their  hearts,  my  Lord  delayeth  his  coming. 
To  him  the  porter  openeth,  and  the  sheep  know  his  voice. 
They  truly  shall  sit  down  at  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb. 
To  them,  and  them  only,  will  he  come  in  and  feast  with  them. 
Till  the  King  has  solemnly  viewed  the  guests,  and  cast  out 
the  unprofitable  servants,  he  will  not  make  his  appearance. 
Such  is  the  promise;  one,  which  I  maintain  to  be  as  much  a 
promise  of  good  things  to  come,  as  is  the  promise  of  the  throne 
which  follows.  These  are  then  the  places  to  which  Mr.  Gipps 
referred  to  establish  his  point  of  figurative  comings.  I  simply 
ask,  was  he  warranted  in  following  them  up  with  such  a  con- 
clusion as  this? — "These  prophecies  have  all  been  fulfilled, 
these  comings  have  all  taken  place,  yet  Christ  has  not  come 
personally  in  any  one  of  them!!!"  Nay,  but  they  all  relate  to 
one  coming,  and  that  coming  is  future  and  shall  be  personal. 

THE  LAST  DAY. 

Much  importance  is  attached  to  this  expression,  and  many 
passages  quoted  to  prove,  that  the  judgment,  both  of  the  just 
and  of  the  unjust,  is  to  take  place  therein.  This  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  admitting;  neither  do  I  doubt  that  it  coincides, 
though  it  is  not  altogether  of  the  same  import,  with,  "the  day 
of  judgment, — the  day  of  God, — the  day  in  which  the  Son  of 
man  shall  be  revealed,  &c."  But  I  do  deny  it  to  be  a  day  of 
four-and-twenty  hours.  The  day  of  God  is  not  necessarily 
more  brief  in  duration,  than  that  whereof  Christ  speaketh  when 
he  saith,  "your  father  Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  my  day,  and  he 
saw  it  and  was  glad,"  John  viii.  56.  Was  the  day  of  Messiah, 
which  he  saw,  and  which  gladdened  him  with  its  glory,  a 
period  so  evanescent  as  that,  which  we  measure  by  a  single 


^2  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

revolution  of  the  earth  upon  her  axis?     Ah!   no,  he  saw  the 
promises  of  millennial  blessedness  afar  off,  was  persuaded  of 
them,  and  for  the  joy,  which  was  set  before  him,  cheerfully 
avowed  himself  a  pilgrim,  Heb.  xi.  13.     But  to  come  nearer 
the   matter, — the  expression  in  the  New  Testament,  is  bor- 
rowed from  the  Old, — "The  day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand,"  saith 
the  prophet  Isaiah,  "  It  shall  come  as  a  destruction  from   the 
Almighty,"  Isa.  xiii.  6.     But  it  appears  that  this  shall  not  be, 
in  Mr.  Gipps's  sense,  the  last  day,  which  shall  shine  upon  the 
world;  though  it  will  be  the  last  of  grace  to  the  mystic  Assy- 
rian.     For  then  mercy  shall  be  extended  to  Jacob;  Israel  also 
shall   be  established   in   the  land,  they   shall  rule  over  their 
oppressors — "It  shall  come  to   pass  in  that  day  that  the  Lord 
shall   give  thee  rest  from  thy  sorrow  and   from  thy  fear,  and 
from  the  hard  bondage  wherein   thou  wast  made  to  serve,  that 
thou  shall  take  up  this  proverb  against  the  king  of  Babylon — 
T  will    break   the   Assyrian   in  my  land,"  Isa.  xiv.  1 — 4,  25. 
The  literal  Assyrian,  be  it  remembered,  perished  at  Babylon. 
Again,  'Uhat  day.  Matt.  vii.  22,"  when  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
shall   be  entered  on,  is  met  witii,  repeatedly,  in  this  prophet. 
Thus,  i?i  that  day  "there  shall  be   a  root  of  Jesse,  which  shall 
stand  for  an  ensign  of  the  people;  of  him  shall  the  Gentiles 
enquire,  (oracularly,)  and  his  rest  shall  be   glorious."     This 
surely  relates  to  the  day  of  the  Messiah,  which  Abraham  saw 
and  was  glad.     "And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  i?i  that  day,  The 
Jehovah   shall  set  his  hand  the  second   time  to  recover  the 
remnant  of  his  people."     There  shall  be  an  high  way  also 
from  Assyria  to  Egypt,  Isa.  xi.  10,  11,  16.     "And  iii  that  day 
shall  ye  say.  Praise  the  Lord — crj'  out  and  shout  thou  inha- 
bitant of  Zion,  for  great  is  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  in  the  midst 
of  thee,"  Isa.  xii.  1,  4 — 6.     Turn  now  to  Joel,  whose  predic- 
tions all  relate  to  that  day.     He  exhorts  to   deep  abasement, 
and  adds,  "alas  for  the  day!  for  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand, 
and  as  a  destruction  from  the  Almighty  shall  it  come,"  Joel  i. 
15.     Now  observe  his  statement  concerning  that  day,  to  which 
he  constantly  refers  through  the  remainder  of  the  prophecy — 
the  land  is  in  a  state  of  desolation,  Iti,  20. — the  day  cometh, 
and  the  army  of  impalpable  spirits,  before  whom  a  fire  burneth, 
and  before  whom  Jehovah  utterelh  his  voice,  proceed  to  exe- 
cute their  fearful  commission,  ii.  1 — 11;  fertility,  along  with 
the  former  and  the  latter  rain,  is  restored;  while  joy,  and  a 
brow  unclouded  with  shame,  mark  the  happy   condition   of 
Israel,  in  the  midst  of  whom  Jehovah  taketh  his  station,  21 — 
27.     The  day  of  the  Lord  is  now  identified  with  the  termina- 
tion of  the  last  days,  and  the  spirit  is  poured  forth  upon  all 
flesh,  88 — 32.     The  captivity  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem  is  re- 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION,  73 

stored — the  nations  are  leathered  in  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat 
— Jehovah  sitteth  there  to  judge  them — the  harvest  and  vintage 
take  place;  "Jehovah  also  shall  roar  out  of  Zion,  and  utter  his 
voice  from  Jerusalem;"  he  shall  dwell  in  Zion,  "be  the  hope 
of  his  people,  and  the  strength  of  the  children  of  Israel;" — 
yea,  in  that  day  wine  and  milk  shall  drop  down  from  the 
mountains — a  fountain  proceed  from  the  house  of  the  Lord. — 
Egypt  and  Edom  shall  be  desolated — Judah  shall  dwell  for 
ever,  and  her  blood  be  cleansed,  iii.  1 — 21.  The  predictions 
of  Zephaniah  are  just  to  the  same  effect;  "the  day  of  the  Lord 
is  at  hand;  for  the  Lord  hath  prepared  a  sacrifice,  he  hath  bid 
his  guests.  It  shall  come  to  pass  m  the  day  of  the  Lord's 
sacrifice  that  I  will  punish  the  princes,  &c."  Jerusalem  shall 
be  searched  with  candles;  the  fire  of  jealousy  shall  burn  the 
whole  land,  Zeph.  i.  7 — 18;  the  nation  not  desired  is  invited 
to  assemble,  before  the  day  of  the  lord's  anger  cometh 
upon  her,  and  the  meek  of  the  earth  are  exhorted  to  righteous- 
ness, that  they  may  be  hid  "in  the  day  of  the  Lord's  anger;" 
— Moab  and  Ammon,  Ethiopia,  and  Assyria,  are  given  to  the 
spoil,  while  the  former  are  especially  conferred  on  Israel;  the 
Elohim  of  the  heathen  are  to  be  famished,  and  "men  shall 
worship  Jehovah,  every  one  from  his  place,  even  all  the  isles 
of  the  heathen,"  ii.  1 — 15.  The  filthy  city  is  reproved  and 
purified  by  judgment,  iii.  1 — 7;  they  are  commanded  to  wait 
on  the  Lord  till  the  day  that  he  rises  up  to  the  prey;  his 
determination  to  gather  the  nations,  and  devour  them  with  the 
fire  of  his  jealousy,  is  expressed.  "Then  will  I  turn  to  the 
people  a  pure  lip,  that  they  may  all  call  upon  the  name  of  the 
Loid,  to  serve  him  with  one  shoulder.  From  beyond  the 
rivers  of  Ethiopia  my  suppliants,  even  the  daughter  of  my 
dispersed,  shall  bring  mine  offering.  In  that  day  thou  shalt 
not  be  ashamed  for  all  thy  doings;"  the  daughter  of  Zion  is 
exhorted  to  rejoice;  her  judgments  are  taken  away,  her  enemy 
cast  out;  "the  King  of  Israel,  the  Jehovah,  is  in  the  midst  of  thee; 
thou  shalt  not  see  evil  any  more.  In  that  day  it  shall  be  said 
to  Jerusalem,  Fear  not;  and  to  Zion,  let  not  thy  hands  be 
slack;  the  Lord  thy  God,  in  the  midst  of  thee,  is  mighty;  he 
will  save,  he  will  rejoice  over  thee  with  singing;"  they  who 
afflicted  her  shall  be  undone;  in  every  land,  where  they  were 
put  to  shame,  they  shall  obtain  praise  and  fame.  "At  that 
time  will  I  bring  you  again,  even  in  the  time  that  I  gather 
you,  for  I  shall  make  you  a  name  and  a  praise  among  all  the 
people  of  the  earth,  when  I  turn  back  your  captivity  before 
your  eyes,  saith  the  Lord,"  8 — 20.  From  this  abstract  of 
these  two  prophets,  who  have  written  so  largely  on  the  day 
of  the  Lord,  it  is  obvious  that  that  (/ay  embraces  the  destruction 
31* 


74  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

of  the  assembled  nations;  the  desolation  of  Israel,  and  the 
blessedness  she  consequently  obtains  under  the  gracious  rule 
of  THE  King  op  Israel,  Jehovah,  who  shall  dwell  in  the 
midst  of  her,  even  in  Zion,  the  city  of  her  solemnities.  It 
must  therefore  embrace  a  period  of  very  considerable  duration. 
Various  references  are  made  to  the  last  day  in  John,  Four 
of  these  are  distinct  promises  to  those,  whom  the  Father  hath 
given  to  Jesus,  and  who  believe  in  him;  who  are  drawn  to  him 
of  the  Father;  who  partake  of  his  flesh  and  blood,  that  he  will 
raise  them  up  at  the  last  day,  John  vi.  39,  40,  44,  54.  If 
these  promises  have  any  definite  meaning,  they  imply  that  the 
resurrection  of  the  last  day  will  be  confined  to  those,  who  were 
given  to,  believed  in,  were  drawn  unto,  and  partook  of  Jesus. 
Martha  expresses  her  conviction,  John  xi.  24,  "that  her 
brother  shall  rise  again  in  the  resurrection  at  the  last  day." 
This  conviction  of  hers,  however,  cannot  be  considered  as 
decisive  of  the  general  question,  as  it  concerns  only  an  indi- 
vidual; but  that  individual,  nevertheless,  was  one  whom  Jesus 
loved.  But  it  is  written,  concerning  another  class  of  charac- 
ters, "he  that  rejecteth  me,  and  receiveth  not  my  words,  hath 
one  that  judgeth  him;  the  word  that  I  have  spoken,  the  same 
shall  judge  him  in  the  last  day,"  John  xii.  48.  Now  here  is 
nothing  stated  concerning  the  resurrection  of  the  rejecter  of 
Jesus;  but  there  is  of  the  decision  of  the  word  concerning  him 
at  the  last  day.  It  shall  exclude  him  from  the  resurrection  of 
the  just,  of  those  who  confessed  Jesus;  he  shall  not  rise — that 
is  the  judgment  written  concerning  him.  To  rise  then,  he 
must  have  confessed  Jesus — have  been  given  to  him,  believed 
in  him,  been  drawn  to  him  of  the  Father,  and  have  partaken 
of  his  flesh  and  of  his  blood. — It  will  then  appear  that  he  had 
no  life  in  him — that  he  did  not  possess  eternal  life. 

The  case  of  the  various  cities  of  the  plain  have  been  referred 
to,  as  spoken  of  by  our  Lord,  in  reference  to  the  day  of  judg- 
ment. If  you  examine  your  Greek  Testament  you  will  find 
the  article  omitted  in  all  the  places  where  they  are  spoken  of, 
(Matt.  X.  15.  xi.  22,  24.)  It  is  not  in  the  day  of  judgment,  but 
in  a  day  of  judgment,  "visitation  by  temporal  calamities,"  it 
shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom,  &c.,  as  long  since 
noticed  by  Dr.  Hales,  in  his  Analysis  of  Chronology,  vol.  ii. 
page  119 — 8vo.  Lon.  1830.  Where  the  future  condemnation 
of  the  unjust  departed  is  spoken  of,  the  same  form  of  expres- 
sion is  used — an  account  shall  be  given  of  every  idle  word, 
it  Hf^i/ix x.pia-(a>i:,  in  «  day  of  judgment.  Matt.  xii.  36.  The  unjust 
are  to  be  reservedyor  a  day  of  judgment,  u;  >i/uipav  Kpt<!-ia>;,  2  Pet.  ii. 
9.  The  heavens  and  the  earth  are  also  kept  in  store  against  a 
day  of  judgment  and  perdition  of  the  ungodly  men,  the  period  of 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  75 

this  ruin  is  circumscribed,  and  extendelh  not  through  the 
whole  term  o(  the  judgment.  2  Pet.  iii.  7.  But  John  speaking 
of  those,  who  shall  be  raised  in  the  last  day,  says,  Herein  is 
our  love   made   perfect  that  we  may  have  boldnes,  svTxx^s/jaTxs 

x.p(a-ia>;,  IN  THE   DAY  OF    THE    JUDGMENT.     1   John   iv.    17,    that  is, 

throughout  the  entire  period,  which  extendeth  from  the  occu- 
pation of  the  thrones,  at  the  first  resurrection,  to  the  judgment 
before  the  white  throne.  The  same  distinction  is  to  be  ob- 
served in  the  kindred  expression,  Jude  6 — "the  messengers, 
which  kept  not  their  principality,  but  left  their  own  habitation, 
he  hath  reserved  in  chains  of  Hades  under  darkness  unto  a 
judgment  of  a  great  day,"  w  Kpiaiv  juiyctxii; ^juepug — there  is  nothing 
definite  in  the  verse,  which  pointeth  out  any  particular  great 
day,  yet  it  must  doubtless  be  that,  when  the  dead  small  and 
great  stand  before  the  great  white  throne.  But  there  is  an- 
other day  appointed  for  judgment  of  the  ungodly  living,  the 
nations,  in  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  to  which  we  are  mani- 
festly referred  in  the  next  place,  that  is  cited  by  Mr.  Gipps. 
Acts  xvii.  31.  He  hath  appointed  A  day,  ifi  xvhich  he  zoill  judge 
the  OiKOUMENE,  the  platform  of  the  empire  of  the  beast,  in 
righteousness  by  that  man  xvhom  he  hath  ordained,  ajfording  assur- 
ance thereof  to  all,  raising  him  out  of  dead  ones.  This  passage 
is  also  made  the  subject  of  a  separate  article.  It  is  difficult 
to  determine  at  first  sight,  to  which  judgment,  that  in  the  val- 
ley of  decision,  or  that  before  the  white  throne  it  may  refer, 
but  from  the  mention  of  the  Oikoumene,  inhabited  earth,  I  doubt 
not  it  is  the  former.  The  appointment  of  such  a  day  was  in 
itself  abundant  evidence  that  God  would  no  longer  wink  at 
idolatry,  and  the  necessity  of  repentance  was  justly  argued 
therefrom.  The  judgment  by  the  law  shall  be  iti  a  day  ivufxtfn, 
when  God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Christ  Jesus.  Rom. 
iii.  16.  Herein  there  is  no  definite  allusion  to  a  particular 
day,  as  in  our  version.  "The  day,  in  which  the  Son  of  Man 
shall  be  revealed,"  Luke  xvii.  30,  is  limited  by  the  very  terms 
employed  and  by  the  context  to  the  actual  moment  of  his 
Apocalypse  "when  one  shall  be  taken,"  i.e.,  rapt  up  into  glory, 
"and  another  left,"  the  morning  of  the  first  resurrection.  But 
it  seems  surprising  Mr.  Gipps  should  have  referred  to  it,  when 
he  has  interpreted  the  whole  of  the  prophecy  as  given  by  St. 
Matthew,  of  the  figurative  coming  of  Messiah  to  destroy  Je- 
rusalem. "The  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  1  Cor.  v.  5,  which  is 
identical  with  the  day  of  the  Messiah,  that  Abraham  longed  to 
see,  is  here  spoken  of  as  that,  in  which  the  fallen  brother,  hav- 
ing undergone  due  discipline,  may  be  saved.  Now  this  is  the 
very  character  we  attribute  to  the  Millennial  day,  the  day  of 
Messiah,  the  day  of  perfect  bliss  and  consummation  to  Abra- 


76  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

ham's  seed,  the  heirs  of  those  promises.     The  day  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  is  again  employed  to  denote  the  period  of  their 
enjoyment,  2  Cor,  i.  14,  ''we  are  your  rejoicing,  even  as  ye 
also  are   our's,  in   the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus."     After  a  like 
manner  the  lord's  Day,  which  cometh  as  a  thief  on  the  un- 
godly world,  then  dreaming  of  safety  and  peace,  is  mentioned 
(1  Thess.  V.  2 — 11)  as  presenting  a  widely  different  aspect  to 
the  CHILDREN  OF  THE  DAY.      "Ye,  brethren,  are  not  in  dark- 
ness that  the  day  should  overtake  you  as  a  thief.     God  hath  not 
appointed  us  to  wrath,  but  to  obtain  salvation  by  our  Lord  Je- 
sus Christ,  who  died  for  us,  that,  whether  we  wake  or  sleep, 
we  should  live  together  with  him,  wherefore  comfort  yourselves 
together  and   edify  one  another,  even  as  also  ye  do."     In  a 
place,  to  which  we  must  hereafter  refer,  the  Lord's  day  is  again 
spoken  of  in  its  thief-like  approach,  as  presenting  to  the  faith- 
ful an  object  of  earnest  desire  and  an  incitement  to  Christian 
holiness.  2  Pet.  iii.  10 — 13.     Messiah's  day,  that  which  Abra- 
ham rejoiced  to   see,  is  by  this  very  name  described,  as  not 
being  then  mstant,  for  the  comfort  of  the  Thessalonian  Church, 
who  were  fearful,  it  seems,  of  being  overtaken  by  the  time  of 
tribulation,  which   precedes    its  dawn,  2  Thess.    ii.  2.      That 
day,  {»i,uipai>cuv»,)  is  emphatically  referred  to  as  the  day,  when 
many,  who  have  not  done  the  Father's  will,  shall  in  vain  claim 
admission  to  the  kingdom,  Matt.  vii.  22;  as  that,  in  which  the 
kingdom  of  God  has  come,  Luke  x.  12;  as  that,  which    shall 
come  unawares  on  the  carnal,  Luke  xxi.  34;  As  that  in  which 
Jesus  shall  be   glorified  in  his  Saints,   2  Thess.  i.  10;  as  that 
against  which  Paul  had  entrusted  his  all  to  the  Saviour's  cen- 
tinelship,   2  Tim.  i.  12;  as  that,  in  which  it  was  prayed  for 
Onesiphorus  he  might  find  mercy,  2  Tim.  i.  IS;  and  finally  as 
that,  in  which  the  crown  of  righteousness  should  be  awarded 
to  those,  who  love  the  Epiphany  or  glorious  appearing  of  the 
Lord.     Such  are   Mr.    Gipps'   references;  but  I  add,  that  it 
occurs  in   other  places,  which  he  has  not   noticed,   as  for  in- 
stance, "of /Aa/ c/ay  and  hour  knoweth   no  man,"   Matt.  xxiv. 
36;  Mark  xiii.  32, — but  this  was  supposed  to  have  reference 
to  the  siege  of  Jerusalem.     His  own  criticism,  however,  over- 
turns his  theory.     Again — "I  will  not  drink  henceforth  of  this 
fruit  of  the  vine  until  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new  with  you 
in  my  Father's  kingdom,"  Matt.  xxvi.  29;  Mark  xiv.  25.    He 
that  is  on  the  house-top  in  that  day  must  not  come  down  to 
take  his  stuff  out  of  the  house,  Luke  xvii.  31.     We  now  come 
to  a  very  important   place   on   the  context  of  which,  (that  is 
John  xiv.  23,)   I  have  already  pronounced   my  opinion — "a< 
that  day  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  in  my  Father  and  you  in  me 
and  I  in  you,"  John  xiv.  20,      The  witness  of  the  spirit  might 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  77 

710ZU  persuade  them  of  the  fact,  but  thc7i  the  proof  of  it  shall  be 
submitted  to  their  very  senses.     This  interpretation  is  further 
justified  by  the  preceding  promise,  "I  will  not  leave  you  or- 
phans,"— the  Spirit  should  be  sent  to  them  during  his  absence. 
And  further  he  addeth  another  promise  "I  will  come  to  you,' 
ver.  IS,     In  conformity  with  which  he  saith  afterwards,   "ye 
have  heard  how  I  said  unto   you,  I  go  away,  and  come  again 
unto  you,"  ver,  27.     There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  referreth 
to  the  second  advent,  and  therefore  his  coming  to  them,  their 
acquaintedness  in  that  day  with  his  unity  with  the  Father,  and 
their  unity  with  him,  (ver.  20,)  and  his  coming  with  the  Fa- 
ther to   abide  with  them,  (ver.  23,)  are  all  identical.      Lastly, 
we  meet  with  it  in  the  description  of  the  fight  of  Armaged- 
don, which  introduces  the  thousand  years;  and  therefore  must 
precede  the  judgment  before  the  great  white  throne  by  at  least 
that  term  of  time,  (Rev.  xvi.  14,)  "they  are  the  spirits  of  de- 
mons working  miracles,  which  go  forth  unto  the  kings  of  the 
earth  and  of  the  whole  Oikoiimejie,  inhabited  earth,  and  the  bat- 
tle of //fa/^?-ea/ </«?/,  of  Almighty  God."    Now  observe,  they  are 
not  said  to  be  collected  to  battle  at  the  great  day,  but  to  the  battle 
of  that  great  day — the  battle,  by  which  it  is  to  be  distinguished. 
We  thus  identify  the  day  of  Armageddon's  fight  with  the  day  of 
admission    to    the    kingdom;  which   comes   unawares;  where 
Paul's  deposit  shall  be  found  in  safety;  when  Messiah  shall  be 
glorified  in  his  Saints;  Onesiphorus  find  mercy;  the  crown  of 
righteousness  be  awarded;  the  fruit  of  the  vine  be  partaken  of 
by  Messiah  and  his  disciples;  the  man  on  the  house-top  neglect 
his  stufi'in  the  house;  the  unity  of  Messiah  and  the  Church  be 
discoverable  by  sense;  and  the  interminable  abode  of  the  Fa- 
ther and  the  Son,  with  the  Church  take  place.     But  it  is  also 
the  Lord's  day,   and   the   day  of  Messiah.     The   day  of  Mes- 
siah, however,  embraces   many  days,  for  it  is  written  "days 
shall  come,  when  ye  shall  desire  to  see  one  of  the  days  of  the 
Son  of  Man,  and  ye  shall  not  see  it,"  Luke  xvii.  22.     But, 
according  to  Mr.  Gipps,  the  other  formula  we  have  noticed, 
the  last  day,  the  day  of  judgment,  &c.  all  describe  the  very  same 
day,  in  its  dawn  and  in  its  close,  with  Messiah's  day,  and  they 
therefore  must  include  many  days,  commencing  with  the  battle 
of  that  great  day  of  Almighty  God.     It  will  be  seen,  however, 
that  I  do  not  regard  all  those  formulae  as  expressing  the  entire 
period  of  Messiah's  day,  though  they  are  all  identified  with  it. 
Some  of  them  are  shewn  by  the  context,  to  describe  the  judg- 
ment on  the  living  at  the  dawn, — and  others  the  judgment  of 
the  dead,  small  and  great,  before' the  white  throne  far  on  in 
the  eve  of  Messiah's  day — One  other  place  I  have  yet  to  quote, 
which  embraces,  in  my  apprehension,  both  these  judgments. 


78  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

He,  who  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning,  takes  in  both  judg- 
ments at  one  glance.  Thus  in  the  prophets,  he  repeatedly  re- 
presents both  advents,  as  if  they  were  one  continuous  event; 
and  describes  the  miraculous  effusion  of  the  spirit  on  the  apos- 
tles at  Pentecost,  and  o?i  all  Jlesh  at  the  close  of  our  dispensa- 
tion, as  if  no  period  intervened,  during  which  there  was  to  be 
a  remarkable  cessation  of  the  direct  exercise  of  his  power.  It 
is  the  completion  of  his  purposes;  whether  of  wrath  or  mercy, 
he  ever  delights  to  describe,  and  he  pauses  not  to  detail  the 
intermediate  events,  which  occasion  a  pause  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  end.  The  place  1  refer  to  is  the  address  to  the 
profligate,  Rom.  ii.  5,  '<but  after  thy  hardness  and  impenitent 
heart  treasurest  up  unto  thyself  wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath, 
and  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God." 

From  what  I  have  already  advanced,  it  will  appear,  that  I 
do  not  rely  on  the  hypothesis,  that  the  last  day,  or  Messiah's 
day,  is  to  be  one  of  just  one  thousand  years,  neither  more  nor 
less,  which  is  assumed  to  be  essential  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Millennium.  This  assumption,  however,  forms  the  basis  of 
many  an  argument,  and  is  asserted  to  rest  on  the  use,  which 
has  been  made  of  2  Pet.  iii.  8.  For  my  own  part,  however,  I 
am  not  aware,  that  more  has  been  inferred  from  this.place,  than 
what  must  naturally  arise  from  its  perusal,  viz.,  that  in  the  di- 
vine estimate,  the  measure  of  time,  being  vastly  different  from 
man's,  a  period,  which  extendeth  to  a  thousand  years,  is  ac- 
counted but  a  day, — a  long  period  is  abbreviated;  while,  on 
the  contrary,  a  day,  in  heaven's  language,  denoteth  a  thousand 
years — a  short  term  is  elongated;  a  note  of  the  inspired  mea- 
surement of  time  is  not  given  in  Psalm  xc.  4.  It  is  a  general 
maxim,  employed  in  the  place  before  us,  to  account,  indeed, 
for  the  apparent  slowness  in  the  execution  of  the  divine  pur- 
poses, and  the  suspension,  which  has  taken  place,  in  the 
thief-like  approach  of  the  LorcPs  day,  to  which  the  first  clause 
is  especially  applicable;  but  still,  from  its  bearing  upon  that 
day,  which  is  emplatically  the  Lord's  own,  and,  therefore,  not 
to  be  judged  of  by  human  criteria,  I  deem  it  to  convey  an  inti- 
mation, according  to  the  purport  of  the  second  clause,  that  that 
day  will  actually  consist,  as  we  have  already  seen  it  will,  of  a 
very  considerable  period.  I  confine  not  the  period  to  a  thou- 
sand years,  I  believe  it  will  vastly  exceed  it.  The  thousand 
years  in  Rev.  xx.  4,  are  not  made  the  limit  of  the  saint's  reign, 
but  of  Satan's  confinement  to  the  bottomless  pit.  This  remark 
at  once  answers  a  vast  portion  of  the  book  we  are  reviewing. 

Christ's  voice  heard  in  the  grave. 
It  is  argued  from  John  v.  28,  29,  that  all  who  are  in  their 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION,  79 

graves  shall  hear  that  voice,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  and 
come  forth  at  once,  either  to  the  resurrection  of  life,  or  of  dam- 
nation. It  seems  strange  to  me  that  no  reference  should  be 
made  to  verses  25 — 27.  I  quote  the  whole  passage: — 25 
"verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  the  hour  is  coming,  and  now 
is,  [icat  vuv  io-Tt,)  when  the  dead  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of 
God,  and  they  that  hear  shall  live."  26  "For  as  the  Father  hath 
life  in  himself,  so  hath  he  given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  him- 
self," 27  "And  hath  given  him  authority  to  execute  judgment 
also,  because  he  is  the  Son  of  Man."  28  "Marvel  not  at  this, 
for  the  hour  is  coming,  in  which  all  they  in  the  graves  shall 
hear  his  very  voice;"  29  "And  shall  come  forth.  They  who  have 
produced  good  things  at  the  resurrection  of  life,  but  they  vvho 
have  practised  evil  things  at  the  resurrection  of  judgment."  It 
is  scarcely  possible  for  language  to  make  a  greater  distinction, 
as  to  the  time  of  the  resurrection  of  life,  and  the  time  of  the 
resurrection  of  judgment,  than  is  made  in  the  above  verses. 
The  hour  is  now,  from  its  comparative  nearness,  when  the 
dead,  who  hear  the  voice  of  him  that  hath  life  in  himself,  shall 
live; — a  statement,  which  implies,  that  others  shall  not  then 
hear,  and  shall  not  live. — I  know  the  gloss  is,  that  the  dead 
here  spoken  of  are  the  dead  in  sin.  But  the  discourse  is  on 
the  raising  of  the  dead  by  the  Son,  in  proof  of  his  equality  in 
honour  with  the  Father,  who  raiseth  the  dead,  and  maketh 
them  alive,  even  as  the  Son  maketh  alive  those,  whom  he 
wills,  ver.  21, — judgment  is  not  even  exercised  by  the  Father, 
but  is  committed  to  the  Son,  (ver.  22.)  that  he  may  have  equal 
honour,  (ver.  23.)  In  further  explication,  of  which  wonder- 
ful prerogative,  we  are  presented  with  reduplicated  amens,  or 
verilys,  solemnly  authenticating  the  certainty  of  its  exercise, 
as  evidenced  first  in  the  communication  of  the  power  of  his 
resurrection-life,  the  eternal  life,  to  those  vvho  believe  here, 
"verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that  heareth  my  word  and 
believeth  on  him  that  sent  me  hath  everlasting  life,  and  cometh 
not  into  judgment,  but  is  passed  from  death  unto  life,"  has  ex- 
perienced already  the  power  of  the  resurrection,  and  shall 
never  be  arraigned  in  the  judgment,  for  it  only  can  affect  the 
dead,  who  have  never  experienced  that  power;  and  secondly, 
in  the  resurrection  of  the  just,  (ver.  25)  which  we  have  already 
cited,  "verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  the  hour  is  coming,  and 
now  is,"  when  the  dead,  vvho  hear  his  voice,  shall  live,  when 
those,  vvho  have  experienced  the  power  of  the  resurrection, 
shall  receive  the  fulness  of  the  blessing,  even  "the  adoption,  to 
wit  the  redemption  of  the  body." — These  reduplicated  amens 
thus  present  us  with  the  successive  exercise  of  those  greater 
works  (v.  20)  by  Jesus,  on  behalf  of  his  church,  which  are  de- 


QQ  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

signed  to  occasion  adoring  marvel— ;yZrs/,  the  quickening,  by 
his  Spirit,  of  the  dead  in  sin;  and  secondly,  the  recall  to  life,  in 
its  utmost  bliss  and  consummation,  of  those  who  sleep  in  Jesus. 
But  great  a  marvel  as  is  this,  another  marvel  is  to  follow,  for 
ALL  that  are  in  their  graves  shall  hear  his  voice — they  who  have 
produced  good,  as  already  stated,  "at*  the  resurrection  of  life," 
when  they  alone  shall  hear  the  voice;  and  they,  who  have 
practiced  evil,  "at  the  resurrection  of  judgment,"  whereto  the 
former  shall  not  come. 

We  have  a  long  critique  on  the  word  Hour,  in  order  to  prove 
that  the  coming  hour  (of  ver.  29,)  cannot  embrace  the  whole 
period,  which  shall   elapse  between   the  first  resurrection  and 
the  judgment  before  the  White  Throne,  as  if  it  were  neces- 
sarily confined  in  import  to  the  24th  part  of  a  day — but  in  this 
very  chapter,  yea,  in  this  very  discourse,  the  same  word  upa.  is 
employed  to  denote  the  whole  season  of  John  the  Baptist's 
ministry,  (ver.    35.)     It  marks  the  time,   during  which   the 
disciples  should  be  persecuted,  (John  xvi.  2)  the  time  in  which 
they  should  no  more  be  spoken   to  in  proverbs,  but  shewn 
plainly  of  the  Father,   (John  xvi.  25,)  that  is,  according  to 
Beza,  ab  ascensione  Christi,  when  the  spirit  was  poured  out,  ad 
finem  usque  secidorum,  from  the  ascension  of  Christ  even  to  the 
end  of  the  ages.     It  must  either,  in  fact,  denote  with  him  the 
whole  dispensation  of  the  spirit,  or  else  the  Millennial  dispen- 
sation.— Again,  according  to  "//le  commentarij  of  the  age,"  as 
the  bishop  of  Calcutta  calls  that  of  Mr.  Scott,  (and,  indeed,  I 
know  not  that  it  is  even  sought  to  be  denied  by  any,)  the  same 
word  hour  oipa.  is  used  to  mark  out  the  whole  of  the  Christian 
dispensation,  1  John  ii.   IS.     "Little  children,  it  is  the  last 
time,  (hour;)  and  as  ye  have  heard  that  Antichrist  shall  come, 
even  now  are  there  many  Antichrists;  whereby  we  know  that 
it  is  the  last  time,  (hour.") — Were  we  to  adopt  Mr.  Gipps' 
mode  of  reasoning  here,  we  might  make  out"  that  twenty-three 
hours  of  the  last  day  were  expended,  when  John  wrote  this. 
We  have  only  to  substitute  the  word  hour,  for  day. — None  of 
the  hours  of  the  last  day,  "can  be  afteu  the  last  hour,  because 
there  can  be  no  hour  aftek  the  last."     But  all  the  emphasis 
of  type  will  be  insufficient  to  prove  that  every  hour  but  one  of 
the  last  day,  was  run  out  in   John's  time.      And  as   little  can 
it  serve  to  prove  that  the  last  of  the  all   days,  during  which 
Christ  was  to   be  present,  by  his  spirit,  with  the  ministry, 
(Mat.  xxviii.  20,)  or  that  the  last  day,  even  that  wherein  he 
shall  raise  up  all,  who  believed  in  him,  and  them  onl}',  is  the 
last,  which  shall  dawn  upon  the  earth.     But  to  return,  John's 

*  u;  has  the  force  of  at,  when  applied  to  any  thing  which  recently  preceded, 
as  life  3ind  judgment  both  had  here. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  gj 

use  of  the  word  hour  corresponds  with  the  usage  of  the  Seventy, 
for  they  employ  it  as  equivalent  with  the  Hebrew,  ny,  which 
signifies  indefinitely  time  or  season.  No  advantage  therefore 
can  be  derived  to  Mr.  Gipps'  theory,  from  the  occurrence  of 
the  word  hour  in  our  Lord's  notice  of  the  resurrection  of  life, 
and  the  resurrection  of  judgment. 

THE  JUDGMENT  SEAT  OP  CHRIST. 

All  are  to  appear  before  it,  either  to  receive  the  good  or  the 
bad  according  to  the  things,  which  they  had  practised  in  the 
body.  2.  Cor.  v.  10.  It  is  argued  from  hence,  that  they  are 
all  to  do  so  "at  one  and  the  same  time."  Does  it  hence  follow 
that  they  are  all  to  appear  there  at  one  and  the  same  time? 
It  were  waste  of  time  to  pursue  this  reasoning.  One  observa- 
tion, however,  on  the  Judgment  Seat*  We  find  this  word 
(;S»^*)  in  Acts  xii.  21,  translated  throne,  "on  a- set  day  Herod 
arrayed  in  royal  apparel  sat  upon  his  (/3«/^a)  throne."  Now, 
what  is  the  posture  of  the  Saints,  before  the  throne  of  Christ; 
and  the  character,  in  which  they  appear  there?  Is  it  as  parties 
arraigned  before  the  Judge?  Far  from  it.  Their  attitude 
there  is  not  that  of  persons  upon  their  trial,  but  of  victors,  who 
have  fought  the  fight  and  gained  the  prize.  "I  beheld,  and  lo! 
a  great  multitude,  which  no  man  could  number,  of  all  nations, 
and  kindreds,  and  people,  and  tongues,  stood  before  the  throne 
and  before  the  lamb,  clothed  with  white  robes  and  palms  in 
their  hands,"  Rev.  vii.  9.  Widely  different  are  the  circum- 
stances, under  which  the  dead  small  and  great  stand  before  the 
white  throne,  Rev.  xx.  12.  All  thus  shall  indeed  stand  before 
the  throne  of  Jesus,  but  at  veiy  different  seasons,  and  for  very 

*  The  whole  passag:e  runs  thus — "We  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment- 
seat,  (throne)  of  Christ,  that  every  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in  his  body, 
according  to  that  he  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad.  Knowing  there- 
fore, the  terror  of  the  Lord,  we  persuade  men;  but  we  are  made  manifest  unto 

GOD — AND  I  TRU.ST  ALSO,  ARE   MADE    MANIFEST    IN    YOUR    CONSCIENCES."       The   mcu, 

whom  he  would  persuade,  are  thus  evidently  contrasted  with  the  brethren,  to 
whose  consciences  he  was  made  manifest.  This  view  of  the  subject  is  much 
corroborated  by  the  statement  of  the  Apostle,  concerning  the  judicial  correc- 
tion of  communicants.  "For  this  cause  many  are  weak  and  sickly  among 
you,  and  many  sleep.  For  if  we  would  judge  ourselves,  we  should  not  be 
JUDGED.  But  when  we  are  judged,  we  are  chastened  of  the  Lord,  that  we 
should  not  be  condemned  (judged)  with  the  world."  1  Cor.  xi.  30 — 32. 
Those,  who  are  hereafter  to  judge  the  world,  are  at  present  invested  with 
authority,  an  authority,  which  has  indeed,  for  centuries  been  paralysed,  but 
still  an  authority,  which  ought  to  be  in  exercise,  to  judge  their  own  mem- 
bers. Communication  with  evil  doers  being  first  forbidden,  Paul  asks  "what 
have  I  to  do  to  judge  them  that  are  withoutl  Do  not  ye  judge  them  that 
are  within'?  But  them  that  are  without,  God  judgeth  o  ©esf  xg/va,  There- 
fore put  away  from  among  yourselves,  that  wicked  person,"  1  Cor.  v.  11 — 
13.  Against  those  who  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  there  is  no  condemnation 
Kxran^ijuit.  Rom.  viii.  1.  A  variety  of  other  passages  might  be  quoted  to  the 
same  effect. 

VOL.  III. — 32 


g2  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

different  purposes — the  saints  to  magnify  the  Lord  and  to  cast 
their  crowns  before  his  feet  at  his  coming  ;  but  the  rest  of  the 
dead,  when  the  thousand  years  are  ended,  to  receive  their 
doom.  The  terrors  of  that  day  caused  Paul  earnestly  to  per- 
suade men,  (mark,  not  the  saints)  to  repentance  and  faith.  2 
Cor.  V.  11. 

RETRIBUTION  TO  ENEMIES. 

An  argument  is  drawn  from  2  Thess.  i.  5 — 9,  that  all  who 
troubled  his  saints  of  all  ages,  with  all  the  knowers-not  of  God, 
and  the  obeyers-not  of  the  Gospel  shall  be  punished  at  the  very 
same  time,  wherein  believers  are  admitted,  by  Jesus,  into  the 
enjoyment  of  their  rest.  The  distinction  between  those,  who 
troubled  the  Thessalonian  converts  (ver.  6.)  and  those,  «jAo 
know  7iot  God,  by  whom  he  understood  the  Pagans;  and  those 
who  obeyed  ?iot  the  Gospel,  by  whom  he  understood  the  Jews, 
(ver.  S.)  was  so  manifest  to  Macknight,  that  he  interprets  the 
former  verse  at  once  of  the  affliction,  which  was  to  be  brought 
upon  the  Jews,  translating  it  thus: — "Notwithstanding  it  is 
just  with  God  to  give  in  return  affliction  to  them  who  afflict 
you."  I  do  not,  indeed,  follow  him  in  his  exposition,  but  I 
just  notice  it  to  shew,  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  passage  itself, 
which  justifies  the  idea  that  this  affliction  was  to  be  visited  on 
the  persecutors  in  the  very  same  day,  wherein  the  afflicted  were 
to  obtain  rest.  Their  rest,  indeed,  we  are  distinctly  told  shall 
be  entered  on,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven. 
Now,  I  rather  think  it  is  the  change  of  idiom,  by  which  a 
substantive  is  made  a  verb,  and  when  the  adverb  of  time  pre- 
fixed, which  our  translators  adopted  in  writing  down  these 
words,  as  expressing  the  sense  of  the  Greek,  which  occasioned 
the  misconception  1  speak  of;  and  caused  our  much  respected 
author  to  make  the  affliction  which  is  to  be  visited  on  the 
persecutors  synchronize  with  the  rest  to  be  conferred  on  the 
afflicted.  But  the  original  runs  literally  thus: — "To  you,  the 
afflicted,  rest  with  us  in  the  Apocalypse  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
from  Heaven,  with  messengers  of  his  own  energy" — the  rest 
they  shall  obtain  is  actually  in  the  Apocahjpse,  when  they  shall 
be  associated  with  the  Revealed  Jesus  and  his  messengers 
of  energy — while  nothing  is  determined  as  to  the  juncture, 
when  the  affliction  shall  come  on  the  persecutors.  1  have  no 
doubt  it  will  come  on  them  long  after  the  moment  of  the 
Apocalypse,  even  at  the  judgment  before  the  white  throne. 
But  there  are  enemies  noticed  in  the  succeeding  verse,  on 
whom  vengeance  shall  be  taken,  at  the  very  time  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse in  flaming  fire,  even  the  knowers-not  of  God  and  the 
obeyers-not  of  the  Gospel,  the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles  then 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  g3 

living,  who  shall  be  gathered  together  before  the  Son  of  Man, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  "who  shall  suffer  punishment,  the  slay- 
ing, (oxeS^ov,*)  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of 
his  might,  in  that  day  when  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  his 
saints,  &c."  This  punishment  by  slaying,  which  corresponds 
so  accurately  with  Isa.  Ixvi.  15-17,  and  Rev.  xix.  21,  is  here 
represented  you  will  observe,  not  as  the  grand  feature  of  that 
day,  but  as  a  mere  adjunct, — the  great  business  of  that  day 
being  the  glorification  of  Jesus  through  his  own  Saitits,  and  the 
admiration  to  be  won  by  him,  from  all  the  believers.  It  is 
not  a  little  remarkable  also,  that  while  the  whole  family  named 
after  him  are  included  in  the  formula,  all  his  Saints,  all  the 
believers;  it  is  otherwise  in  the  enumeration  of  his  foes,  the 
knowers-not  of  God,  the  obeyers-not  of  the  Gospel.  I  know 
not  that  I  need  trouble  you  with  any  further  remarks  on  this 
passage.  I  believe  I  have  met  all  that  Mr.  Gipps  has  advanced 
in  the  above  exposition.  I  would,  however,  add  here  a  few 
remarks,  which  I  have  postponed  till  now,  on  Dan.  xii.  2.  I 
cannot  myself  discover  any  force  in  the  idea,  that  the  awaking 
of  some  to  life  and  some  to  shame,  in  this  place,  contains  the 
expression  of  the  simultaneous  arising  of  both  classes — but,  I 
have  so  great  a  respect  for  Mr.  Begg's  judgment,  I  am  unwill- 
ing altogether  to  deny  the  justice  of  his  interpretation,  that 
some  of  those,  who  have  been  eminently  wicked,  will  be 
raised  at  the  same  time  with  the  righteous,  and  consigned  to 
perdition.  But  I  must  own  I  cannot  receive  the  notion.  It 
appears  to  me  contradictory  to  the  law  our  Lord  has  laid  down 
for  the  resurrection  at  the  last  day;  and  in  my  view  of  the  place 
I  meet  with  no  real  difficulty.  The  many  who  sleep,  of  whom 
Daniel  speaks,  are  evidently  Jews.  The  object  of  the  Spirit 
in  noticing  them  at  all  is  to  mark  the  period  and  glorious 
results  of  Michael's  interference  for  his  people.  When  he 
standeth  up,  for  their  deliverance  from  the  time  of  unexampled 
tribulation,  the  scattering  of  the  holy  people  shall  be  finished, 
and  therefore  the  Jews  restored,  (ver.  7;)  and  so  great  shall  be 
their  enjoyment,  and  so  completely  shall  the  enemy  be  sub- 
dued, that  the  uise,  and  amongst  them  Daniel,  for  he  too  shall 
stand  in  his  lot  at  the  end  of  the  days,  "shall  shine  as  the 
brightness  of  the  firmament,  and  they  that  turned  many  to 
righteousness,  as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever,"  (ver.  3.)  It 
was  to  introduce  this  promise  to  the  faithful,  the  fact  of  the 
resurrection  was  referred  to  at  all,  but  being  referred  to,  the 
resurrection  of  life  and  the  resurrection  of  judgment  are  both 
noticed   in   one  comprehensive   glance  of  the  end   from  the 

*  This  word  is  used  as  the  exponent  of  Tnsn  to  cut  ofl',  1  Kings  xiii.  3,  4,  by 
the  Ixx. 


§4  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

beginning,  just  as  we  have  already  seen  to  be  the  case  in  the 
parallel  place  of  John  v.  29.  I  am  the  more  confirmed  in  this 
for  three  reasons: — 

1.  There  is  no  note  of  time  given  in  v.  2,  by  which  the  two 
resurrections  are  made  synchronical. 

2.  Without  expatiating  on  the  resurrection  of  some  to  shame 
and  everlasting  contempt,  he  contents  himself  with  the  mere 
notice  of  the  fact,  and  then  returns  to  detail  the  character  of  the 
retribution;  but  goes  on  immediately  to  describe  the  glory  of 
the  some,  with  whose  resurrection  to  everlasting  life  he  had 
commenced  the  statement,  being  only  for  a  moment  diverted 
from  it,  that  the  ungodly  might  know  there  will  also  be  a 
resurrection  of  judgment;  and, 

3dly,  I  agree  with  Theodoret  and  Bishop  Newton,  who 
quotes  him,  that  the  mnmj  are  put  for  the  entire  multitude  of 
those  who  sleep,  i.  e.  for  «//,  just  as  Paul  uses  the  word,  Rom. 
V.  15,  19. 

So  far  Mr.  Gipps  and  I  are  agreed — but  then  it  is  plain  from 
the  prophecy  that  the  shining  of  the  wise  as  the  firmament 
synchronizes  with  the  restoration  of  the  Jews;  while  all  are 
agreed  that  the  resurrection  to  shame  will  not  take  place  until 
the  dead  small  and  great  stand  before  the  white  throne,  which 
is  at  least  a  thousand  years  afterwards. 

I  believe  I  have  now  left  nothing  important  unnoticed  in 
Mr.  Gipps' second  Chapter,  with  the  exception  of  his  comment 
on  2  Peter  iii.,  for  the  rebutting  of  which  I  refer  you  to  my 
own  pamphlet  on  the  subject;  and  with  the  exception  also  of 
his  view  of  the  kingdom  as  connected  with  2  Tim.  iv.  1,  and 
1  Cor.  XV.  24 — 26.  But  these  topics  will  afibrd  ample  mate- 
rials for  another  letter,  and  therefore  undismayed  by  your  re- 
quest for  brevity,  I  postpone  their  consideration  for  the  present. 


LETTER  IV. 

The  Kingdom. — Matt.  xiii.  41:  xvi.  18— Luke  i.  33;  xxii.  30 — John  xviii.  36— 
Eph.  V.  .5— Col.  i.  13—2  Tim.  iv.  18— Heb.  i.  8.-2  Pet.  i.  11,  The  peliver- 
TNG  UP  OF  THE  KINGDOM — 1  CoF.  XV.  23-26 — Davidic  rule  over  Enemies — 
The  Tabernicle  stale  of  the  New  Heavens  and  New  Earth — Ps.  ex.  xlvii. 
—First  Fruits— The  End— 2  Tim.  iv.  1. 

I  hope  my  tediousness  will  not  oppress  you,  and  that  mak- 
ing all  due  allowance  for  my  inability  to  compress  my  matter, 
you  will  novjT  permit  me  to  present  you  with  some  remarks  on 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  85 

The  Kingdom. 

Mr.  Gipps  writes  thus:  "the  reader  will  find  light  by  con- 
sulting the  following  passages,  which  are,  I  believe,  all  in  the 
New  Testament,  in  which  the  kingdom  peculiarily  his,  is  men- 
tioned. Matt.  xiii.  41;  and  xvi.  2S;  Luke  i,  33;  and  xxii.  30; 
John  xviii.  36;  Eph.  v.  5;  Col.  i.  13;  2  Tim.  iv.  1,  18;  Heb. 
i.  8;  2  Pet.  i.  11." — Let  us  then  adopt  this  recommendation, 
and  may  light  be  vouchsafed  to  our  understandings,  while  we 
examine  these  texts  in  order. 

1. — At  the  end  of  the  age  or  dispensation;  all  offenders,  sym- 
bolized by  the  tares,  shall  be  gathered  out  of  his  kingdom,  by 
the  messengers  of  the  Son  of  Man,  Matt,  xiii,  41.  But  the 
kingdom,  out  of  which  they  shall  be  then  gathered,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  corresponds  with  the  world,  (aoc^oc;)  the  world, 
therefore,  must  be  the  platform  of  his  empire.  Furthermore, 
— when  the  tares,  being  thus  gathered,  are  cast  into  the  fur- 
nace, "then  shall  the  righteous  shine  forth  as  the  Sun,  in  the 
kingdom  of  their  Father,"  (ver.  43.)  But  the  kingdom  of 
their  Father,  for  the  coming  of  which  we  pray  daily,  is  con- 
nected with  the  time  when  his  will  shall  be  done  07i  earlh,  as  it 
is  in  heaven.  It  must,  therefore,  be  a  kingdom,  of  which  the 
visible  administrator,  as  will  hereafter  be  seen,  shall  be  the  Son 
of  Man. 

2. — The  kingdom  of  tlie  Son  of  Man,  in  which  he  was  to 
be  seen  coming,  by  some  of  his  disciples,  before  they  tasted 
death,  we  have  already  discovered,  from  the  testimony  of  one  . 
of  those  favoured  individuals,  to  be  that  of  the  final  establish- 
ment, whereof  the  pledge  was  given  on  the  mount  of  transfi- 
guration, when  he  appeared  to  them  in  that  very  glory,  where- 
with he  shall  hereafter  take  possession  of  his  father  David's 
throne,  comp.  Matt.  xvi.  28,  with  2  Pet.  i.  16 — 18.  That  he 
shall  indeed  reign  upon  that  throne,  is  abundantly  confirmed 
unto  us,  by  the  next  place  to  which  we  are  referred, 

3. — Thus  did  the  angel  prophecy  to  Mary,  at  the  salutation, 
concerning  Jesus; — "He  shall  be  great,  and  shall  be  called  the 
Son  of  the  Highest,  and  the  Lord  God  shall  give  unto  him  the 
throne  of  his  father  David,  and  he  shall  reign  over  the  house 
of  Jacob  for  the  ages,  and  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end," 
Luke  i.  32,  33.  For  my  part  I  cannot  understand,  how  men 
can  so  fritter  away  this  promise,  as  to  make  it  affirmatory  of 
any  thing  rather  than  wiiat  it  directly,  totidem  verbis,  ensures  to 
the  Virgin's  son.  He  shall  succeed  to  David's  throne,  and  rule 
the  house  of  Jacob  for  the  ages,  says  the  angel;  he  shall  neither 
succeed  to  the  one,  nor  rule  the  other,  the  anti-millenarians, 
with  one  consentient  voice,  exclaim.  Having  all  pre-deter- 
32* 


35  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

mined  this,  they,  one  and  all,  draw  to  the  utmost  extent  on 
their  imaginations,  to  force  some  ingenious  construction  on  the 
words,  which  they  were  never  designed  to  convey.  They  talk 
of  his  reigning  in  the  heart,  which  David  never  did;  of  his 
ruling  the  spiritual  Jacob,  and  of  his  being  head  of  the  church, 
as  David  was  of  the  state,  though  in  this  case  his  throne  would 
be  altogether  diverse  from  that  of  David,  &c.  &c.*  The  gene- 
ral resort,  however,  is  a  quibble.  Of  whatever  materials  the 
actual  throne,  upon  which  David  sat,  was  composed,  it  must 
long  since  have  been  destroyed,  and  it  must  now  be  impossible 
for  Jesus  to  take  his  seat  on  it.  But  when  history  relates  that 
some  successful  general  or  barbarian  prince  ascended  the  throne 
of  the  Caesars,  does  she  not  mean  to  inform  us  by  this  well  de- 
fined phraseology,  that  the  adventurer  in  question  had  suc- 
ceeded to  the  rank,  style,  dignity,  honour,  and  power  of  Cae- 
sar? And  wherefore  must  Scripture  be  treated  as  no  man 
would  venture  to  treat  any  profane  record?  The  rank  and 
power  of  David,  as  king  of  Israel,  was  delegated  to  him  by  Je- 
hovah, in  whose  name  he  reigned  in  Jerusalem.  Just  that 
rank  and  power  is  secured  by  oath  and  promise  to  Messiah, 
1  Chron.  xvii.  12 — 14,  where  Jehovah  promises  that  the  throne 
shall  be  established  for  him  for  the  ages;  and  that  he  shall  be 
established  in  Jehovah's  kingdom  and  house  for  the  ages:  while 
David  (ver.  17)  gratefully  acknowledges  that  his  house  was 
thus  spoken  of  for  a  great  while  to  come;  and  that  he  was  mer- 
cifully regarded  according  to  the  order  of  the  Adam  that  is 
FUTURE.  But  refer,  in  corroboration  hereof,  to  Isa.  ix.  6,  7; 
Jer.  xxiii.  5 — xxxiii.  12 — 26;  Amos  ix,  11;  Acts  ii.  30.  In 
this  last  place,  indeed,  the  promise  is  referred  to  in  proof  of 
the  resurrection.  David  being  a  prophet,  foresaw  that  the 
resurrection  must  take  place  in  order  that  the  promise  of  sit- 
ting upon  his  throne  might  be  fulfilled  to  Messiah.  Cut  off" as 
the  Man  of  Sorrows,  it  was  manifest  he  could  not  reign  in  Je- 
rusalem amongst  his  ancients  gloriously  before  his  death,  and 
that  he  must  therefore  rise  in  order  that  he  should  do  so.  Has 
he  done  so  yet?  Assuredly  not.  It  is  not  to  David's  throne 
he  ascended,  for  David  never  ascended  or  reigned  there,  John 
iii.  13;  Acts  iii.  34.  He  ascended,  on  the  •  contrary,  to  the 
Father's  throne.  Rev.  iii.  21.  And  as  he  has  sat  down  thereon, 
so  shall  he  cause  all  who  overcome  to  sit  down  with  himself 
on  his  own  throne,  when  that  throne  shall  be  established  in 
righteousness.  He  is  now  exercising  with  the  Father,  just  the 
same  authority  which  the  Father  exercised,  and  which  he  ex- 
ercised when  David  reigned  in  Mount  Zion.  But  the  autho- 
rity which  he  is  to  exercise,  according  to  the  oath  of  the  Fa- 
*  See  my  article  on  David's  throne,  Christian  Examiner,  Vol.  x.  17. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  g7 

ther,  is  a  delegated  authority,  as  the  fruit  of  david's  loins 
ACCORDING  TO  THE  FLESH,  just  such  as  David  cxcrcised  as  the 
anointed  one  of  the  Father,  as  the  man  after  God's  own  heart, 
Acts  ii,  30.  But  the  Davidic  kingdom  is  to  be  brought  to  a 
close,  how  then  are  we  to  interpret  the  wortis  of  the  angel — 
"and  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end?"  These  words 
admit  of  two  interpretations.  1st. — Let  us  bear  in  mind  the 
analogous  language  of  Dan.  vi.  26;  vii.  14,  and  it  will  amount 
to  the  same  thing  with  the  statement,  that  his  kingdom  shall 
not  pass  aiv ay,  as  did  the  four  great  monarchies,  or  be  destroyed, 
as  they  were.  No  other  dynasty  shall  succeed  his; — his  sceptre 
shall  neither  be  wrested  from  him  by  sedition,  revolution,  or 
conquest.  But,  2ndly,  the  endless  kingdom  may  have  no  refe- 
rence to  the  occupancy  of  David's  throne;  and  this  I  incline 
to  believe.  His  reign,  as  the  David  in  the  midst  of  his  ene- 
mies, shall  merge  in  his  reign,  as  the  Solomon,  in  the  midst 
of  his  willing  friends;  and  his  reign,  as  the  Solomon,  all  hav- 
ing been  accomplished  that  was  designed  by  his  vicegerency, 
shall  merge  in  the  now  direct  rule  of  the  Father,  who  shall 
then  be  all  in  all.  It  is  quite  according  to  the  prophetic 
usage,  that  events  the  most  distant,  should  be  thus  brought  to- 
gether. Thus  do  we  find  his  ignominious  infancy  united  with 
his  glorious  reign,  without  any  note  of  the  long  intervening 
period,  in  Isa.  ix.  6,  7.  In  the  last  verse  some  words  have 
been  supplied.  It  should  run,  his  government  is  for  increase,*  it 
shall  increase.  The  perpetual  increase  of  power  distinctly 
corresponding  with  the  various  stages  of  authority  already  no- 
ticed; and  the  peace  shall  not  end — "He  shall  ascend  the 
throne  of  David."  So  Houbigant  amends  the  passage,  and  he 
had  no  system  to  maintain. 

4. — At  the  institution  of  the  last  supper,  Jesus — having  said, 
he  would  no  more  eat  of  the  Passover,  until  it  should  be  ful- 
filled in  the  kingdom  of  God;  and  that  he  would  no  more  drink 
of  the  fruit  of  the  vine,  until  the  kingdom  of  God  should 
come — first  points  out  the  traitor,  and  then  represses  the  vain 
ambition  of  the  apostles  for  present  greatness,  by  referring 
them  to  his  own  menial  condition  amongst  them,  as  one  that 
serveth,  adding,  "ye  are  they  which  have  continued  with  me 
in  my  (trials)  temptations.  And  I  appoint  unto  you  a  king- 
dom, as  my  Father  hath  appointed  unto  me,  that  ye  may  eat  and 
drink  at  my  table  in  my  kingdom,  and  sit  on  thrones,  judging 
the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,"  Luke  xxii.  16,  18,  28,  30.  The 
kingdom  wherein  the  Passover  shall  be  fulfilled  by  the  deliver- 
ance of  all  the  actual  heirs  from  the  mystic  Egypt;  the  king- 
dom wherein  the  fruit  of  the  vine  shall  be  drank  of  neic,  by 
Messiah  and  his  saints;  the  kingdom  to  which  they  are 
*  Propagabit  late  imperium,— Houbigant. 


« 

gg  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

appointed;  the  kingdom  wherein  they  sliall  eat  and  drink  at 
Messiah's  table;  and  the  kingdon,  finally,  wherein  the  apos- 
tles shall  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel, 
I  take  it  for  granted,  must  be  the  very  same. — But  on  an- 
other occasion,  Christ  taught  them  to  regard  the  rege?ieration, 
[TruKtryma-ict,)  as  the  period  when  they  should  thus  sit  on  thrones. 
— "We  have  forsaken  all,  and  followed  thee,"  they  said,  after 
he  had  observed  on  the  conduct  of  the  rich  youth,  who  went 
away  from  him  sorrowful,  ''what  shall  we  have  therefore?  and 
Jesus  said  to  them,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  ye,  which  have 
followed  me,  shall,  in  the  Palingenesia,  when  the  Son  of  Man 
shall  sit  on  the  throne  of  his  own,  mtov,  glory,  also  sit  on  the 
twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  Mat.  xix. 
27,  28.  The  regefieralion,  when  all  this  shall  come  to  pass, 
can  only  refer  to  that  period  when  he  that  sitteth  ofi  the  throne 
shall  say,  "behold  I  make  all  things  new,"  Rev.  xxi.  5.  But 
in  that  day,  "the  tabernacle  of  God  shall  be  with  men,  and  he 
will  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,"  ver.  3. 
Further,  that  day  is  identified  with  the  hour  when  the  Son  of 
Man  shall  sit  "on  the  throne  of  his  own  glory,"  even  when  he 
shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  with  his  own  holy  ones, 
his  messengers. — Apostles  are  not  the  only  individuals  who 
shall  partake  of  his  felicity,  or  who  shall  eat  and  drink  with 
him. — For  he  hath  said,  "every  one  that  hath  forsaken  houses 
or  brethren,  or  sister  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children, 
or  lands,  for  my  name's  sake,  shall  receive  an  hundred-fold, 
and  shall  inherit  eternal  life,"  Mat.  xix.  29.  "Again,  many 
shall  come  from  the  east  and  west,  and  shall  sit  down  with 
Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
The  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb,  shall  not  be  restricted  to 
the  few,  who  attended  Jesus  in  his  day  of  sorrow — it  shall  be 
participated  in  by  all,  who  have  had  fellowship  with  him  in 
his  su fieri ngs,  and  have  been  made  conformable  to  his  death. — 
As  the  apostles  shall  then  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel,  so  shall  the  saints  also  judge  the  world,  1  Cor. 
vi.  2.  They  that  overcome,  shall  sit  on  Messiah's  throne. 
Rev.  iii.  21.  "He  that  overcometh,  shall  inherit  all  things, 
and  I  will  be  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son,"  Rev.  xxi.  7. 
They  shall  inherit  all  things,  by  virtue  of  their  union  with  the 
Son,  who  is  heir  of  all  things,  Heb.  i.  2,  who  is  himself  the 
conqueror,  and  through  whom  they  are  more  than  conquerors. 
But  something  may  be  necessary  to  be  said  on  the  word  judge 
— the  apostles  shall  judo-e  (he  t-a-elve  tribes  of  Israel — the  saints 
shall  judge  the  world.  In  speaking  of  the  judgment,  and  of  the 
Judge  of  the  quick  and  the  dead,  the  notion,  in  general,  is 
restricted   to   the   idea  of  pronouncing  a  sentence,  either  of 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  89 

acquittal  or  condemnation,  on  those  who  shall  simultaneously 
be  arraigned  before  the  bar  of  justice. — But  this  is  a  mere 
popular  error. — The  judge,  who,  with  us  acts  in  the  name,  and 
on  the  behalf  of  the  king,  has  to  decide  civil,  as  well  as  crimi- 
nal causes. — He  exercises,  in  fact,  a  portion  of  the  kingly 
office,  as  the  king's  deputy  in  all  legal  matters,  to  facilitate  the 
dispatch  of  justice,  no  monarch  being  capable  of  fulfilling,  in 
his  own  person,  all  the  multifarious  offices,  which  it  belongs  to 
him  of  risiht  to  discharge. — In  like  manner,  He,  who  of  old, 
vouchsafed  to  be  Israel's  king,  did,  in  condescension  to  Israel  s 
weakness,  appoint  judges  to  sit  in  the  gate,  deciding  cases;  and 
still  further,  to  exercise  other  legal  functions,  as  generalissimos 
of  his  armies.  It  is  in  allusion  to  these  extensive  judicial 
functions,  appertaining  to  vice-royalty,  that  he,  who  is  followed 
by  the  armies  of  heaven  on  white  horses,  and  who  is  to  possess 
the  gate  of  his  enemies,  is  styled  the  Judge  of  the  quick  and 
the  dead;  and  that  they  who  are  his,  at  his  coming,  are  said 
also  to  judge  the  world. — Further  the  admirers  of  Mr.  Gipps' 
mode  of  reasoning,  must  naturally  be  struck  with  the  coinci- 
dence between  the  assurance  above  given,  that  the  apostles  are 
to  sit  on  thrones,  and  the  annunciation  concerning  ihajirst  resur- 
rection which  John  makes.  Rev.  xx.  4.  "I  saw  thrones  and 
they  sat  upon  them."  Though  an  error  may  arise  in  tracing 
the  similitude  between  various  statements  of  wrath  to  befall  the 
ungodly  hereafter,  as  those  statements  may  synchronize  either 
with  the  execution  of  vengeance  on  the  nations,  in  the  valley 
of  decision,  or  with  the  great  assize  or  judicial  transaction 
before  the  great  white  throne,  where  the  dead  small  and  great 
shall  stand  arraigned  before  him,  who  sitteth  thereon;  yet  no 
such  mistake  can  arise  here,  for  we  know  of  but  one  period 
when  the  thrones  shall  be  set,  when  crowns  of  righteousness 
shall  be  awarded,  when  the  saints  shall  possess  the  kingdom 
under  the  whole  heaven,  when  the  various  cities  shall  be  placed 
under  their  jurisdiction,  and  when  they  shall  enter  into  the 
joy  of  their  Lord. 

5. — We  now  come  to  Christ's  reply  to  Pilate.  Mij  kingdom 
is  not  of  this  world,  is  not  derived  from  it,  if  my  kingdom  were, 
oi,  out  of  this  world,  that  is  were  world-derived,  then  would  my 
servants  fight,  that  I  should  not  be  delivered  to  the  Jews,  but  my 
kingdom  is  not  [vw)  now,  (evTst/Ssv)  henceforward,  (ex  eo  tempore) 
or  here,  (hie)  that  is,  in  the  world,  John  xviii.  36.  From  this 
place  we  learn,  that  the  Messiah's  kingdom  was  not  to  be 
WORLD-DERIVED.  It  is  to  be  givcn  directly  by  the  Father,  and 
to  be  based  on  the  ruins  of  every  earthly  dynasty.  It  was  not  to 
be  set  up  at  that  time.  There  is  a  time  to  come,  viz.  the  Palinge- 
nesia,  commencing  in  the  restitution  of  all  things,  it  when  shall 


90  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

thenceforward  be  set  up  here.  Such  is  the  direct,  plain, 
natural  import  of  the  place  before  us.  Were  this  the  only 
passage  in  the  Bible  bearing  on  the  subject,  I  would  here  take 
my  stand,  and  assert,  that  Christ  must  yet  be  king  over  all  the 
earth.  A  writer  in  the  Christian  Examiner,  Vol.  x.  p.  505, 
has  endeavoured  with  much  subtlety  to  give  this  text  another 
turn.  He  argues  that  as  Pilate's  question,  "art  thou  the  King 
of  the  Jews,"  had  reference  to  the  tiine  then  being,  our  Lord's 
reply  must  necessarily  be  restricted  to  the  same  time,  when  he 
said,  "thou  sayest  tliat  I  am — a  king.  To  this  end  was  I  born; 
and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world  that  I  should  bear 
witness  unto  the  truth."  He  here  affirms  first,  that  he  was 
born  to  be  a  king;  and  secondly,  that  he  came  into  the  world 
to  bear  testimony  to  the  truth,  evidently  of  his  own  kingship, 
but  not  to  exercise  the  royal  functions.  Now  has  it  never 
been  heard  that  men  were  born  to  be  kings,  who  yet  never 
ascended  the  tlirone  till  a  very  advanced  period  of  life?  Jesus 
was  indeed  king  of  the  Jews,  when  he  stood  before  Pilate  and 
sufiered  upon  the  cross.  He  was  not  acknowledged  as  king, 
his  subjects  were  in  rebellion  against  him,  and  he  attempted 
not  to  exercise  one  act  of  authority  as  their  legitimate  monarch. 
Far  be  it  from  me,  b}'  an  act  of  "high  treason,  to  un-king  him 
now  by  denying  to  him  that  title,  to  which  he  made  a  rightful 
claim;"  when  he  said,  "thou  sayest  that  I  am — a  king."  But 
I  do  say  he  only  claimed  the  title — he  neither  assumed  nor 
exercised  tiie  office — "When  Jesus  therefore  perceived  that 
they  would  come  and  take  him  by  force  to  make  him  a  king, 
he  departed  again  into  a  mountain  himself  alone."  John  vi. 
15.  It  is  no  answer  to  say  that  he  claimed  "the  name  and 
essence  of  kingship"  when  he  affirmed  "all  power  is  given  unto 
me  in  heaven  and  on  earth."  Does  he  exercise  this  delegated 
power?  Has  he  bound  Satan?  Is  the  usurpation  at  an  end? 
Do  the  Jews  own  and  obey  him?  Have  they  yet  welcomed 
him  saying,  "Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord?"  Has  the  oppression  of  the  Gentiles  ceased?  Has  he 
received  the  Heathen  for  his  inheritance  and  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  for  his  possession?  He  occupies  a  throne 
indeed,  but  it  is  the  throne  of  the  Father,  Rev.  iii.  21.  On 
David's  throne,  as  King  of  the  Jews,  he  does  not  sit,  neither 
has  he  sat;  and  to  all  his  other  crowns  the  crown  of  all  the 
earth  has  not  been  added.  Two  arguments  have  been  drawn 
from  John  xviii.  36,  to  prove  that  Messiah's  kingdom  is  what 
some  please  to  call  spiritual.  I.  His  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world,  which  is  interpreted  by  reference  to  John  viii.  23,  that 
as  he  himself  was  not  of  this  world,  but  spiritual  and  heavenly, 
and  not  earthly  like  the  Jews,  so  likewise  his  kingdom  is  not 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  91 

earthly  but  spiritual.  This  seems  to  me  to  be  a  very  inappro- 
priate reference  for  an  antimillenarian  to  rely  on,  unless, 
indeed,  it  be  determined  to  deny  his  humanity  in  order  to 
maintain  a  desperate  hypothesis.  Jesus  was  not  world-derived, 
but  was  he  therefore  not  a  man?  He  was  from  above  and  he 
was  supernaturally  conceived  in  the  Virgin's  womb;  but  was 
he  therefore  not  jlesh  and  blood?  Was  the  body  that  was  pre- 
pared for  him  immaterial?  Methought  he  was  "Man  of  the 
substance  of  his  mother,  born  in  the  world!"  Was  he  not 
Abraham's  seed,  and  sprang  he  not  from  David's  loins?  Now 
just  as  he,  though  he  had  an  earthly  body,  in  all  respects  like 
unto  that  belonging  to  the  brethren,  sin  only  excepted,  was 
nevertheless,  not  world-derived,  but  the  Lord  from  heaven: 
so,  likewise,  is  his  kingdom  not  world-derived,  and  yet  is  it 
the  Lordship  of  earth;  soon  shall  the  cry  be  heard,  "the 
worldly  kingdom  of  our  Lord,  and  of  his  Christ,  is  come," 
Rev.  xi.  15.  (see  Griesback's  text.)  2. — It  is  urged,  that 
because  his  servants  did  not  fight  for  his  deliverance,  his  king- 
dom could  not  be  "literal  and  worldly;"  that,  if  it  had  been  so 
they  would  have  been  "seen  to  fight."  Had  his  kingdom 
been  world-derived,  the  sword  had  indeed  been  resorted  to,  by 
his  supporters,  in  proper  flesh  and  blood  subsisting,  to  prevent 
his  crucifixion.  Then  had  his  under-rozoers,  vmpirai,  his  assist- 
ants, embarked  with  him  in  the  same  vessel,  made  way  for  him, 
through  blood,  to  the  throne  of  Jerusalem;  and,  instead  of  a 
crown  of  thorns,  they  had  adorned  his  brow  with  the  diadem 
of  Solomon.  But  in  stating  this  did  he,  who  avowed  himself, 
the  rightful  king  of  the  Jews,  affirm  that  he  would  never  claim 
the  sceptre  hereafter,  and  would  never  make  his  title  good  by 
the  agency  of  other  under-rowers  or  servants?  In  saying  that 
his  kingdom  was  not  7iow  to  be  henceforward,  or  his  under- 
rowers  would  fight,  did  he  not  in  effect  assert  that  the  time 
would  come,  when  his  kingdom,  though  not  of  the  world 
derived,  should  yet  in  the  world  be  established,  and  that  too 
by  a  most  fearful  conflict,  in  which  his  under-rowers  shall 
fight,  (see  Ps.  cxlix.  5—9.  Joel  ii.  3—11.  Mai.  iv.  3. 
Alas!  the  day  of  the  Lord,  in  the  valley  of  decision  is  near. 
That  the  disciples  did  thus  understand  our  Lord  to  intimate 
that  he  would,  at  some  future  period,  claim  his  seat  on  David's 
throne,  and  that  too  after  he  had  been,  for  forty  days  subsequent 
to  his  resurrection,  instructing  them  in  the  things  jjerlaining  to 
the  kingdom  of  God,  appears  from  the  question  they  put  to  him — 
Lord,  wilt  thoti  at  this  time  restore,  (a^rot^S/s-Tave/?,)  re-establish,  the 
kingdom  to  Israel?  In  this  question  I  apprehend  there  is  an 
allusion  to  the  unfulfilled  vision  of  the  valley  of  dry  bones; 
and  the  predicted  revival  and  restoration  of  the  two  houses  of 


g2  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

Israel;  and  the  symbolical  union  of  the  two  sticks  of  the  Pro- 
phet. For  I  find  that  portion  of  prophecy  thus  commented  on, 
by  Jehovah.  "Behold,  I  will  take  the  children  of  Israel  from 
among  the  heathen,  whither  they  be  gone,  1  will  gather  them 
on  every  side,  and  bring  them  into  their  own  land,  and  I  will 
make  them  one  nation  in  the  land  upon  the  mountains  of 
Israel;  and  one  king  shall  he  king  to  them  all — David,  my  ser- 
vant, shall  be  king  over  them;  and  they  shall  haveo7ie  Shepherd, 
(a  passage  which  greatly  corroborates  our  view  of  the  judgment 
of  the  Sheep  and  Goats,) — and  they  shall  dwell  in  the  land, 
which  I  have  given  unto  Jacob  my  servant,  wherein  your 
fathers  have  dwelt;  and  they  shall  dwell  therein,  even  they 
and  their  children,  and  their  childrens'  children,  for  ever:  and 
my  servant  David  shall  be  their  prince  for  ever,  (or  for  the  ages) 
— my  tabernacle  shall  be  with  them:  yea,  I  will  be  their  God, 
and  they  shall  be  my  people,  and  the  heathen  shall  know  that 
I,  the  Lord,  do  sanctify  Israel,  when  my  sanctuary  shall  be  in 
the  midst  of  them  for  evermore."  Ezek.  xxxvii.  21 — 28. 
Whether  this  prediction  were  in  the  view  of  the  apostles  or 
not,  however,  when  they  put  the  above  question  to  their 
adorable  master,  it  is  quite  obvious,  that  it  abundantly  justified 
their  expectation,  that  he  would  thus  establish  the  kingdom; 
become  Israel's  prince  for  the  ages;  dwell  in  the  midst  of 
them,  as  thus  located  in  their  own  land;  place  his  tabernacle 
abidingly  amongst  them,  which  it  never  has  been  at  all  since 
the  Babylonish  captivity;  and  thereby  cause  the  heathen  to 
know  Jehovah,  as  Israel's  sanctifier.  Their  master's  reply  did 
not,  in  the  remotest  degree,  curb  this  expectation,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  confirmed  it.  They  take  for  granted,  that  such  a 
re-establishment  must  take  place,  and  they  enquire  is  it  to  take 
place  at  this  time.  But,  being  unwilling  to  afford  them  any 
information,  as  to  the  time,  he  rejoins,  that  it  was  not  for 
them  "to  know  the  times  and  the  seasons,  which  the  Father 
hath  placed  under  his  own  control,"  Acts  i.  6,  7.  It  is  par- 
ticularly worthy  of  note  that  Peter  after  he  had  received  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  healed  the  lame  man  at  the  Temple  gate, 
pressed  the  doctrine  of  repentance  on  the  Jews,  saying  that 
the  Lord  "shall  send  Jesus  Christ,  which  before  was  preached 
unto  you;  whom  the  heavens  must  receive  until  the  times  of 
re-establishing,  aTrcKxr^a-Taa-ic,  (tlie  substantive  form  of  that  un- 
usual expression,  whicii  was  employed  in  the  enquiry  that  w^as 
made  of  Christ  concerning  the  time  when  he  would  re-establish 
Israel's  kingdom;)  of  all  things,  which  God  hath  spoken  by 
the  mouth  of  all  his  holy  Prophets  since  the  world  began,  or 
from  the  age,"  Acts  iii.  21.  comp.  Rom.  viii.  19 — 23.  Rev. 
V.  9 — 13.     Every  one  of  the  Prophets  have,  I  undertake  to 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  93 

prove  to  you,  spoken  of  these  times,  as  connected  with  Israel's 
recover}',  and  the  second  advent.  As  for  instance,  Obadiah, 
who  makes  not  the  most  remote  mention  of  the  first  advent, 
or  of  what  is  called  the  Gospel  kingdom,  yet  speaks  of  these 
times  as  setting  in  with  the  day  of  the  Lord  on  the  heathen, 
with  deliverance  and  holiness  on  Mount  Zion,  with  the  de- 
struction of  enemies,  and  with  the  re-possession  of  Canaan  by 
Israel — concluding  his  prediction  thus: — "Saviours  shall  come 
up  on  Mount  Zion  to  judge  the  Mount  of  Esau;  and  the  king- 
dom shall  be  the  Lord's."  Obad.  15—21.  But  to  return;  I 
now  repeat  what  I  once  before  wrote,  though  it  was  met  with 
a  sneer  by  a  writer  in  the  Christian  Examiner;  Christ  "could 
only  then,  according  to  the  divine  purpose,  bear  testimony  to 
his  rightful  sovereignty,  but  that  testimony  is  infinitely  im- 
portant. His  kingdom,  he  informed  Pilate,  was  not  of  this, 
xo«7^i?,  (kosmos  world)  not  of  the  earth  in  its  present  attire,  for 
now  i.  e.,  at  this  time,  his  kingdom  is  not  from  hence."  The 
veriest  tyro  knows,  that  the  word,  jcoo-^o?,  primarily  signifies 
ornament  or  order,  and  that  when  applied  to  earth  it  denotes  its 
ornamental  garniture.  When  Christ,  therefore,  says  his  king- 
dom is  not  of  this,  xotr^sc,  he  conveys  to  us  the  idea,  that  his 
kingdom  is  in  no  wise  derived  from  earth  in  her  thistly 
habiliments,  disorganized  throughout,  and  presenting  in  her 
aspect  none  of  that  regular  symmetry,  for  which  she  was 
distinguished,  when  she  came  forth  from  the  hands  of  her 
great  Creator. 

6. — We  learn,  that,  no  whoremongers,  unclean  persons,  nor 
the  covetous,  who  are  idolaters,  "have  any  inheritance  in  the 
kingdom  of  Christ,  and  of  God,"  Eph.  v.  5.  The  passage  it- 
self does  not  convey  any  direct  intimation  of  what  the  king- 
dom is.  But  as  it  is  stated  to  be  a  kingdom,  upon  which  we  are 
to  enter  by  inheritance,  we  have  some  clue  as  to  its  nature. 
We  meet  with  several  notices  of  the  inheritance  in  this  epistle. 
They  who  have  believed  in  Christ,  and  have  redemption  through 
his  blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  have  in  him  also  ob- 
tained an  inheritance,^^  Chap.  i.  11. — Now  if  we  look  back  to 
Rom.  viii.  15 — 21,  we  shall  find  it  said,  concerning  the  chil- 
dren of  God,  who  are  "joint  heirs  with  Christ,"  that  their  pre- 
sent sufferings  can  be  nothing,  when  compared  with  the  glory 
to  be  revealed  in  them,  because  the  whole  burdened  creation, 
with  outstretched  neck,  awaiteth  the  manifestation  of  the  Sons  of 
God,  as  the  epoch  when  deliverance,  not  destruction,  observe, 
awaiteth  it.  If  the  mere  manifestation  of  the  Sons  of  God  to 
the  creation,  shall  bring  down  such  a  blessing  upon  creation, 
what  blessednesss,  what  glory,  what  recompense  for  suffering 
must  be  in  reserve  for  the   corporate  heirship!     Again,  they 

VOL.  III. — 33 


94  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

are  said  to  be  "sealed  with  that  holy  spirit  of  promise,  which 
is  the  earnest  of  our  inheritance,  until  the  redemption  of  the 
purchased  possession."  Chap.  i.  13,  14.  Recurring  again  to 
Romans,  viii.  we  find  it  likewise  affirmed  of  the  heirs,  "ye 
have  received  the  spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba, 
Father,  the  Spirit  itself  bearing  witness  with  our  spirits,  that 
we  are  the  children  of  God;  and,  if  children,  then,  heirs,"  &c. 
But  further,  they  who  are  sealed  with  the  spirit,  receive  their 
inheritance  on  the  redemption  of  the  purchased  possession. 
What  is  this  possession  that  is  purchased?  It  cannot  be  hea- 
ven, for  heaven  needeth  not  redemption; — it  never  was  defiled 
with  sin;  it  never  was  afflicted  with  misery;  and,  to  speak  of 
its  redemption,  or  deliverance  from  evil,  would  be  absurd  in 
the  extreme.  It  must,  therefore,  mean  either  the  church  or 
the  world,  or  both;  now  both  are  redeemed,  and  both  shall  be  de- 
livered. "The  creation  itself  also  shall  be  delivered  from  the 
bondage  of  corruption,  we  are  expressly  taught  in  Rom.  viii.; 
and  the  same  all-instructive  passage  tells  us, —  "not  they,  only, 
but  ourselves  also,  which  have  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit; 
even  we  ourselves  groan  within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adop- 
tion, to  wit,  the  redemption  of  the  bodij.^'  It  is  a  very  common 
error  to  speak  of  heaven  as  bought  for  the  church.  This  stands 
upon  no  foundation  of  Scripture.  That  which  has  been  bought, 
or  ransomed,  or  delivered,  is  that,  which  is  in  the  power  of 
the  enemy,  and  it  has  been  bought  for  Jesus.  "Ye  are  not  your 
own,  ye  are  bought  with  a  price,  the  precious  blood  of  Jesus.  *' 
That  blood  literally  fell  on  and  besprinkled  the  material,  in 
token  that  it  too  shall  be  delivered,  and  its  curse  removed.  In 
another  passage,  I  find  Paul  describing  the  long  concealed  mys- 
tery to  be,  "that  the  Gentiles  should  befellozu  heirs,  and  of  the 
same  body  and  partakers  of  his  promise  in  Christ  by  the  Gos- 
pel," Eph.  iii.,  not  the  mere  vocation  of  the  Gentiles,  as  is 
sometimes  stated,  but  the  actual,  joint  participation  in  the  pro- 
mised inheritance  of  believing  Gentiles,  with  those  of  the  cir- 
cumcision in  the  flesh,  who  are  also  circumcised  in  heart.  The 
inheritance  promised  to  Israel  is  Canaan,  and  by  incorporation 
into  the  same  body  with  Israel,  by  being  engrafied  into  the 
same  olive  and  partaking  of  the  same  seed,  to  whom  the  pro- 
mise was  made,  the  Gentiles  acquired  an  equal  right  to  Canaan 
with  the  Jews,  and  shall  with  Jesus,  the  seed  of  Abr.iham, 
enter  on  its  actual  occupation.  This  mystery  is  more  fully 
unfolded.  Col.  i.  27,  as  "made  manifest  to  the  saints,  to  whom 
God  would  make  known,"  but  Oh!  what  slow  and  stupid 
scholars  we  are,  zohat  is  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  tliis  mystery 
among  the  Gentiles;  zvhichis  christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory 
— Christ  in  you!   but  is  not  Christ  the  heir?  Yea,  and  of  him  is 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  95 

it  expressly  written,  "Yet  will  I  bring  an  Heir  unto  thee,  0 
inhabitant  of  Mareshah  [or  the  inheritance);  He,  the  glory  oj  Is- 
rael, shaW  come  to  Adullam,"  which  Burkius  with  Hillery  un- 
derstands and  translates,  at  the  perpetuity  of  the  yoke,  when  it 
seems  irrevocable,  when  all  things  appear  to  insure  its  continu- 
ance.—When  the  Heir,  in   all  the  lowliness  of  despised  man- 
hood, first  came  to  demand  the  fruit  of  his  vineyard,  the  cry 
was  raised  '^this  is  the  heir,  come  let  us  kill  him  and  the  in- 
heritance shall  be  our's."    Matt.  xxi.  38.     The  evi    purpose 
prevailed,  but  the  husbandmen  were  fearfully  requited —i  hey 
fell  on  the  choice  corner  stone  and  were  broken.      Ihen  \vas 
it  that  the  yoke  was  truly  placed  upon  their  pecks.     But  when 
he  cometh"in  his  glory,  and  grindeth  to  powder  the  ungodly 
upon  whom  he  shall  fall,  then  shall  the  yoke,  once   deemed 
perpetual,  and  that  by  men  who,  ought  to  have  been  better  in- 
structed, fall  from  their  shoulders;  and  from  the  coadition  o 
bondslaves  they  shall  be  raised  to  the  rank  of  Princes  in  all 
lands.— And  shall  the  Heir,  the  Glory  of  Israel,  be  brought  to 
.  his  inheritance?     Then,  verily,  they,  who  are  joint-heirs  with 
him,  must  also  be  brought  into  possession,  and  enter  upon  the 
kingdom;   hut  7io  zDhoremotiger,  nor  unclean  person,  nor  covetous 
man,  who  is  an  idolalor,  shall  have  any  inheritance  with  them  i« 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  God.      Now,  in  the  context  _ot  this 
chapter,  the  heirs  of  this   kingdom   are   further  described  as 
formed  into  that  spousal  bodv,  of  which  Jesus  is  the  husband, 
as  being  the  Bride,  the  Lamb's  wife,  Eph.  v.  2  3—33.      But  at 
the  juncture,  when  '-the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  is  come  and  his 
wife  hath  made  herself  ready,"   Rev.  xix.  7,  then   goeth   he 
forth  on  the  white   horse,  accompanied  by  his  joint-heirs,  to 
smite  the  nations,  rule  them  with  a  rod  of  iron,  cast  the  beastial 
body  into  the  lake  of  fire,  bind  Satan,  and  establish  the  thrones, 
on  which  his  joint-heirs— the  armies  that  followed  him  to  the 
carnage— the  JBride  herself,  shall  live  and  reign  with  him  the 
thousand  years,  Rev.  xix.  11-21;  xx.  1-4.     No  doubt   can 
exist  as  to  the  identity  of  the  Warrior  Horsemen  and  the  ^ride. 
—  To  her  was  granted,  as  her  special  prerogative,  as  the  fitting 
robe  of  state  for  the  queen  consort  of  the  Lamb,  that  she  should 
be  arrayed  in  fine  linen,  clean  and  rohite:  for  the  fine  linen  is  the 
righteousness  of  Saints.     But  the  warrior  horsemen  are  similarly 
apparelled— "the  armies,  which  were  in  heaven,  followed  him 
upon  white  horses,  clothed  in  fine  linen,  white  and  clean." 
The  royal  vesture  belongeth  only  to  the  Bride.     She  accom- 
panies him  therefore  to  his  final  conquest,  and  shall  she  be  ex- 
cluded from  his  throne?    Assuredly  not.     But  he  commences 
his  reign  at  the  final  conquest,  after  treading  the  winepress, 
and  binding  Satan,  that  is  at  the  first  resurrection;  and  there- 


96  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

fore  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  of  God,  in  which  she  has  her 
inheritance,  is  that,  which  is  established  during  the  thousand 
years  or  upwards,  which  precede  the  judgment  before  the 
white  throne.  We  meet  with  a  passage  every  way  similar  to 
Eph.  V,  5,  in  Gal.  v.  21,  "they  which  do  such  things  (the 
works  of  the  flesh)  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,"  but 
in  contrast  with  these,  they  who  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit,  WHO  ARE  Christ's  and  have  crucified  the  jiesh  with  its 
affections  and  lusts,  are  brought  before  us — and  they  must  needs 
therefore  be  the  inheritors  of  the  kingdom.  The  expression 
who  are  Christ's,  must  be  well  noted. — It  occurs  before  chap.  iii. 
29.  If  ye  be  Christ's  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and 
HEIRS  ACCORDING  TO  THE  PROMISE.  What  promise?  Verily, 
the  promise  of  Canaan  to  Abraham,  as  the  heir  of  the  world, 
and  to  his  seed,  which  he  referred  to  ver.  16.  (comp.  Gen.  xii. 
7.;  xiii.  15;  xv.  18.)  in  proof  that  the  inheritance  is  not  of  the 
law  but  of  promise.*  So  that,  as  he  afterwards  writes,  now, 
we,  brethren,  (kxta,)  according  to,  or  in  like  maimer  with  Isaac, 
are  the  children  of  promise.   Gal.  iv.  28. 

7. — Intimately  connected  with  the  passage  we  have  just  ex- 
amined, is  that,  which  next  presents  itself. — I  must  quote  the 
preceding  verse  along  with  it.  "Giving  thanks  unto  the  Fa- 
ther, which  hath  made  us  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  inherit- 
ance of  the  saints  in  light;  who  hath  delivered  us  from  the," 
[i^c-jo-i'jL;,)  authority  or  "control  of  the  darkness,  and  hath  trans- 
lated us  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  his  love,"  Col.  i.  12, 
13.  Their  adaptation  to  the  inheritance,  as  connected  with 
their  present  deliverance  from  the  control  of  evil,  and  their 
change  of  condition  from  the  degradation  of  slavery  to  the 
honourable  estate  of  the  kingship,  is  here  the  subject  of  thanks- 
giving.— The  inheritance  we  have  alread}'^  enlarged  on,  and 
have  found  it  to  be  an  inheritance  in  the  yet  future  kingdom 
of  Christ  and  of  God. — But  the  kingdom,  into  which  they  are 
here  said  to  be  brought,  is  something  different;  and  being  put 
in  contrast  with  the  slavery,  out  of  which  they  are  delivered, 
can  only  denote  the  state  of  regal  dignity  into  which,  as  a  na- 
tion of  kings,  the  pollygarchy  of  Jesus,  with  whom  they  are 
associated  in  his  throne,  they  have,  through  much  abounding 
grace,  been  brought. — Thus  are  we  said  in  the  same  sense  to 
be  brought  "unto  the  Mount  Zion,and  unto  the  city  of  the  liv- 
ing God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  to  an  innumerable  com- 
pany of  messengers,  to  the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the 
first-born,"  Heb.  xii.  22,  23.  The  heavenly  Jerusalem,  unto 
which  we  are  brought,  and  which  is  hereafter  to  come  down 

*  See  Christian  Herald,  vol.  iv.  page  153,  on  the  Promise  of  Canaan  to  the 
Seed. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  97 

from  God  out  of  heaven,  is  an  expression  which  duly  weighed, 
may  throw  much  light  upon  our  inquiry.  The  word,  (e^ou/xiv;*,) 
heavenly,  here  applied  to  the  New  Jerusalem,  is  the  very  word 
used  in  Ephesians,  to  describe  the  place,  to  which  the  faithful 
are  exalted,  though  it  is  also  used  to  denote  the  place  in  which 
Satan  and  his  subordinate  powers  now  exercise  their  authority. — 
The  one  are  blessed  with  all  spiritual  blessings  in  the  heavenlies, 
(iTTovpavioi;,)  Eph.  i.  3. — they  "are  raised  up  together  and  made 
to  sit  together  in  the  heavenlies  in  Christ  Jesus,"  Eph.  ii.  6, 
and  yet  are  they  called  on  to  "wrestle  against  the  rulers  of4.he 
darkness  of  this  age,"  dispensation  or  economy,  "against  the 
spirituals  of  the  wickedness  in  the  heavenlies,"  Eph.  vi.  12. 
Those  rulers,  those  spirituals  are  now  in  the  possession,  and 
yet,  by  reason  of  the  certainty  of  their  ejection;  by  reason  of 
the  fact,  that  a  greater  one  is  in  the  church,  than  he  that  is  in 
the  world;  and  by  reason  of  the  certainty  of  the  fact,  that  there 
is  a  present  enjoyment,  of  the  power  of  the  world  to  come, 
experienced  by  the  heirs  of  tiie  inheritance;  they  are  already 
said  to  be  located  and  blessed  in  the  heavenlies.  Just,  in  the 
same  way,  are  they  also  said  to  be  arrived  at  Jerusalem,  the 
heavenly,  and  to  be  translated  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of 
God's  love. 

8. — That  some  such  meaning  ought  to  be  ascribed  to  the 
passage  referred  to,  will  appear,  I  think;  from  the  next  place, 
to  which  I  will  draw  your  attention,  for  I  pass  over  the  next, 
in  order,  as  it  forms  the  subject  of  a  separate  investigation. — 
The  Lord,  who  stood  by  Paul  at  his  first  answer,  when  all 
others  forsook  him,  he  writes  to  Timothy,  "shall  deliver  me 
from  every  evil  work,  and  will  save  me  unto  his  kingdom,  the 
heavenly,"  (t«v  i^rou/iawov,)  2  Tim.  iv.  18.  His  deliverance  from 
every  evil  work  is  here  opposed  to,  as  it  is  also  connected 
with  his  being  saved  unto  the  kingdom,  the  heavenly;  just  as 
the  deliverance  from  the  control  of  darkness  is  opposed  to  the 
translation  into  the  kingdom  of  the  Son  of  God's  love,  in  the 
former  passage; — In  the  one,  the  present  power — in  the  other, 
the  full  experience  of  the  blessing,  is  spoken  of  It  is  the 
more  remarkable  in  the  latter  case,  not  only  from  the  certainty, 
with  which  the  yet  unrealized  issue  is  contemplated,  a  certainty 
which  in  Scripture  language,  would  fully  warrant  its  being 
described  in  the  light  of  a  present  enjoyment;  but  also  from 
his  previously  stated  conviction,  that  the  crown  of  righteous- 
ness shall  he  given  to  him,  and  all  that  love  the  Lord's 
appearing  i7i  that  day,  v.  S,  to  which  we  need  now  add  nothing 
further  after  our  former  comment. 

9. — But  unto  the  Son,  he  saith,  "Thy  throne,  0  God,  is  for 
the  age  of  the  age,  a  sceptre  of  righteousness  is  the  sceptre  of 
33* 


gg  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

thy  kingdom."  Heb.  i.  8.  These  words  are  quoted  from  the 
Song  of  Loves,  Ps.  xlv.  6,  in  proof  of  Messiah's  pre-eminent 
dignity.  Now  examine  the  context  where  they  are  originally 
found. — The  comeliness  of  Jesus  being  described,  he  is  in- 
voked, as  the  Mighty  One,  to  gird  on  his  sword — his  right 
hand,  it  is  affirmed,  shall  teach  him  terrible  things; — and  then, 
it  is  added,  "Thine  arrows  are  sharp  in  the  heart  of  the  king's 
enemies — the  peoples  fall  under  thee." — Does  not  this  predic- 
tion directly  correspond  with  the  destruction  by  fire  and  sword, 
of  all  flesh,  Isa.  Ixvi.  16,  and  with  the  destruction  of  the  beasts, 
Rev.  ix.  17 — 21!  Immediately  following  this  announcement 
of  discomfiture,  the  words  before  us  are  inscribed,  "Thy 
throne,  0  God,  is  for  the  age  of  the  age;  the  sceptre  of  thy 
kingdom,  is  a  right  sceptre."  His  own  grace  and  dignity  being 
further  noticed,  the  appearance  of  the  Queen,  the  Lamb's  wife, 
at  his  right  hand,  in  all  the  royal  splendour,  is  dilated  on 
through  the  remainder  of  the  Psalm.  The  facts  here  pre- 
dicted, and  the  order  of  the  events,  precisely  correspond  with 
the  prophecy  of  Dan,  vii.  and  of  Rev.  xix.,  enemies  are 
destro3'ed  by  the  enthroned  Son,  and  with  him,  in  the  great- 
ness of  his  triumph,  and  in  the  glory  of  his  kingdom,  is 
associated  the  Church  of  the  First-born,  whose  names  are 
written  in  heaven.  But  the  kingdom,  in  the  glory  of  which, 
she  is  associated  with  him  is,  in  the  words  of  Daniel,  "the 
kingdom  and  the  dominion  and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom, 
under  the  whole  heaven;  for  T^^re's  Daughter  gifts  her,  the 
rich  among  the  people  entreat  her  favour,  and,  becoming  now 
a  fruitful  mother,  she  makes  her  children  princes  in  all  the 
earth.  Great  light  indeed  does  this  place  throw  upon  the 
kingdom.  One  remark  more  before  we  pass  on — as  the  events 
described  synchronize  with  those  of  Rev.  xix.  the  setting  up  of 
this  kingdom  must  correspond  with  the  establishment  of  the 
thrones  and  the  first  resurrection.  Rev.  xx.  4;  and  must  there- 
fore precede  the  judgment  before  the  White  Throne,  by  at 
least  one  thousand  years. 

10. — They  who  with  all  diligence  practise  the  duties  of  the 
Christian  calling,  Peter  affirms  shall  7iever  fall.  For  so,  he  adds, 
an  entrance  shall  he  minislered  to  you  abimda7illij  inlo  the  age- 
belonging  or  age-enduring  in  the  millennial  kingdom  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  2  Pet.  i.  11.  Wherefore  he  deter- 
mines not  to  be  negligent  in  reminding  them  of  these  things, 
seeing  he  had  followed  no  cunningly  devised  fable,  but  was  an 
eye-wit?iess  of  his  majesty  on  the  holy  mount,  12-18.  From  the 
determination  he  thus  comes  to,  it  is  manifest  that  the  age- 
belonging  kingdom  is  the  same  with  that,  of  which  the  trans- 
figuration was  both  the  type  and  pledge,  as  we  have  already 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  99 

seen.  But  that  kingdom  is  the  kingdom  of  the  Coming  One, 
who  shall  return  by  the  same  trackway,  that  he  once  ascended 
into  heaven.  The  age-belonging  kingdom,  into  which  an 
entrance  shall  abundantly  be  ministered  to  the  called  and 
chosen,  is  that  which  shall  be  established,  when  Jesus  thus 
returns  to  claim  the  kingdoms  for  his  own,  and  to  take  his 
long-promised  station  upon  the  throne  of  his  Father  David. 

THE   DELIVERING  UP  OF  THE   KINGDOM. 

Great  importance  has  very  deservedly  been  attached,  in  this 
controversy,  to  1  Cor.  xv.  23 — 26.  The  kingdom  which  Christ 
will  deliver  up  to  the  Father,  I  cordially  agree  with  Mr.  Gipps, 
"will  not  be  delivered  up  at  the  end  of  the  thousand  years, 
described  Rev.  xx.  4;  for  "he  will  not  deliver  up  the  kingdom 
till  all  enemies  are  subdued,"  v.  25.  But  the  Holy  Ghost 
after  defining  in  three  verses  of  Rev.  xx.  (3,  5,  7,)  the  ending 
of  the  thousand  years,  informs  us  that  enemies  remain,  after 
that  period  is  thus  ended;  for  the  Devil  is  to  be  loosed,  and  the 
7iationsin  the  foicr  quarters  of  the  earth,  whose  number  is  as  the 
sand  of  the  sea,  are  to  be  deceived  by  him,  and  to  wage  war 
against  the  Saints;  and  are  to  be  subdued  at  the  time  when  fire 
comes  down  from  God,  ver.  9.  Therefore  Christ  must  con- 
tinue to  retain  the  kingdom  during  the  whole  of  this  succeeding  pe- 
riod; and  consequently  cannot  have  delivered  it  up  at  the  end 
of  the  preceding  period  of  the  thousand  years."*  I,  for  one, 
never  supposed  that  the  personal  reign  of  Christ  and  his  Saints 
on  earth  was  to  be  limited  to  the  term  of  the  thousand  years. 
That  term  is  only  employed  to  limit  the  first  age  of  uninter- 
rupted dominion,  which  the  Saints  shall  enjoy  with  him,  who 
is,  {htt(3-iKiv;Tm  aimm)  KiNG  OF  THE  Ages,  1  Tim.  i.  17;  even  the 
period  of  Satan's  confinement  and  of  the  Lord's  forbearance 
with  the  rest  of  the  dead,  whose  judgment  is  postponed  till 
after  its  close.  Further,  I  fully  agree  with  Mr.  Gipps,  that  "we 
may  perhaps  receive  light  upon  the  subject  of  the  kingdom,  by 
referring  to  the  nature  of  David's  kingdom,  which  is  continually 
represented  as  typical  of  Christ's,  (Isa.  ix.  6,  7;  Jer.  xxiii.  5, 
6;  Luke  i.  32.)  The  kingdom  of  David  was  two-fold. "t  One 
branch  of  it  was  over  willing  Israel;  the  other  "over  the  ene- 
mies of  Israel,  the  Edomites,  Moabites,  Philistines,  &c.,  whom 
he  subdued  in  battle,  and  over  whom,  though  unwilling,  he 
reigned  by  power."  We  have  already  seen,  that  David's  king- 
dom was  more  than  a  type  of  Christ's,  for  Christ  shall  actually 
sit  upon  the  throne  of  David,  succeed  to  him  in  the  kingdom, 
be  literally  kijig  of  the  Jeivs,  and  Ruler  in  Israel,  We  shall 
prove  presently  also,  that  he  shall  subdue  the  same  nations  to- 
*NoteR.  p.  48.        +Id.p.49. 


100  ^^^  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

gether  with  all,  who  shall  be  confederate  against  Israel.  In 
the  <'clay  of  the  Lord,  which  is  near  upon  all  the  heathen," 
Obad.  15,  we  are  expressly  told  that  the  Edomites  are  to  be 
consumed,  (v,  IS,)  and  that  the  plain  of  the  Philistines,  and 
that  of  the  Canaanites,  and  of  the  cities  of  the  South  are  to  be 
possessed  by  "the  captivity  of  this  host  of  the  children  of  Is- 
rael." (ver.  19,  20.)  The  Moabites  and  Ammonites  are  ex- 
pressly named,  as  amongst  the  discomfited  by  Israel,  when 
marshalled  under  the  root  of  Jesse,  as  the  time  of  their  final 
recovery.  (Isa.  xi.  14.)  Joel  mentions  the  desolation  of  Edom 
in  the  plain  of  Jehoshaphat,  (iii.  19.)  And  (in  Amos  ix.  12,) 
we  are  told  that  the  "remnant  of  Edom  and  of  all  the  heathen 
upon  whom  Jehovah's  name  is  called,"  shall  be  possessed  in 
that  very  day,  when  the  fallen  Tabernacle  of  David  shall  be 
raised.  Indeed  it  is  said  to  be  raised  for  this  very  purpose, 
that  possession  may  be  taken  of  them.  But  further  in  that 
DAY,  when  he,  who  came  forth  unto  Jehovah  out  of  Bethle- 
hem Ephratah,  and  is  to  be  ruler  in  Israel  whose  goings  forth 
have  beeti  from  of  old  from  the  days  of  eternity,  or  the  ages,  shall 
stand  a?id  feed  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord,  in  the  Majesty  of 
THE  name  of  the  Lord  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  great  ttnto  the 
ends  of  the  earth;  and  when  the  remnant  of  his  brethren 
shall  relur?i  uiito  the  children  of  Israel,  fi'om  whom  they  have 
long  been  dissevered,  even  since  they  were  led  captive  of  Shal- 
menezer; — then  will  he  utterly  destroy  all  the  instruments  of 
idolatry,  and  oppression,  and  execute  vengeance  in  anger  and 
fury  upon  the  heathen.  (Mic.  v.  2 — 15.)  Thus,  then,  shall 
Messiah  discomfit  and  subdue  and  take  possession  of  the  terri- 
tories of  the  same  identical  enemies  of  Israel,  and  of  the  hea- 
then round  about,  as  David  did;  and  shall  re-erect  David's  Ta- 
bernacle with  the  very  view  of  taking  them  in  possession.  So 
shall  he  rule  in  the  midst  of  his  enemies.  The  Davidic-reign 
shall  then  commence.  Then  shall  obedience  by  the  rod  of 
iron  be  enforced.  This  circumstance  accounts  for  the  fact,  that 
when  the  bonds,  which  ruled  them,  are  relaxed,  and  Satan  let 
loose  again,  they  readily  fall  into  his  snares,  become  the  vic- 
tims of  his  delusion,  and  suffer  him  to  lead  them  up  against  the 
camp  of  the  Saints,  and  the  beloved  city,  (Rev.  xx.  7 — 9.)  It 
is  not  till  after  this  crisis  that  the  Solomon-reijin  shall  com- 
mence.  The  Davidic-reign  is  not  designed  to  be  permanent, 
but  is  to  merge  in  the  Solomon.  Amongst  other  reasons,  I 
draw  this  conclusion  from  the  form  of  expression  employed 
above,  the  promised  re-erection  of  David's  Tabernacle.  A  ta- 
bernacle is  a  temjjorary  and  moveable  dwelling.  Everything 
in  David's  history  marks  the  condition  of  a  newly  established, 
though  powerful  monarchy.     Conquest  after  conquest  leads  to 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  101 

the  extension  of  his  power.  He  neither  builds  a  palace  for 
himself  and  his  successors,  nor  is  he  permitted  to  erect  a  tem- 
ple for  Jehovah.  All  this  was  reserved  for  Solomon.  I  find 
a  similar  distinction  observed  in  the  vision  of  the  new  earth 
and  the  new  heavens.  The  camp  of  the  Saints,  which  Gog  and 
Magog  made  a  vain  effort  to  invest,  being  deluded  by  some 
Ij'ing  artifice  of  the  Father  of  lies,  could  only  have  been  a  tem- 
porary and  moveable  provision  for  their  accommodation;  but 
we  shall  afterwards  find  them  in  occupation  of  a  permanent 
and  glorious  city.  When  John  first  beholds,  in  the  distance, 
the  Holy  City,  he  beholds  it  accordingly,  not  as  actually  de- 
scended, but  descending;  and  a  voice  informs  him,  "Behold  the 
Tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,"  Rev.  xxi.  2,  3.  It  was  then 
the  descending  city,  just  as  Jesus  is  now  the  coming  King. 
From  hence  the  saints  could  go,  to  and  fro,  and  place  their 
camp  wheresoever  they  listed;  and  while  this  is  the  case,  while 
the  city  is  only  descending,  the  tabernacle  of  God,  and  not  the 
temple,  is  established  amongst  men.  But  in  the  second  vision, 
with  which  John  was  favoured,  of  the  descending  city,  not  in 
the  distance,  but  nigh  at  hand,  for  he  is  carried  away  in  the 
spirit  to  the  summit  of  a  lofty  mountain,  from  which  he  may 
obtain  a  nearer  prospect,  (yer.  10 — 26,)  he  gains  an  accurate 
acquaintance  with  its  whole  structure,  its  dimensions,  and  ma- 
terials. He  hears  nothing  now  of  the  tabernacle  of  God  being 
with  men,  but  he  finds  that  the  city  possesses  the  very  glory 
of  God;  and  while  he  sees  no  temple  therein,  of  material  form, 
yet  is  he  careful  to  assign  the  reason,yor  the  Lord  God  Almighty, 
and  the  Lamb,  are  the  temple  op  it.  And  so  resplendent 
is  the  glory  of  tfie  Lord  in  the  midst  of  it,  that  sun  and  moon 
are  not  needed;  and  now  doth  he  discern  it,  with  prophetic 
eye,  in  actual  contact  with  earth,  for  he  writeth,  "the  nations 
of  them  that  are  saved  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  it;  and  the  kings 
of  the  earth  do  bring  their  glory  and  honour  into  it;  yea,  they  shall 
bring  the  glory  and  honour  of  the  nations,"  as  well  as  of  their 
monarchs,  "into  it."  The  city  now  assumes  the  aspect  of  the 
temple  and  supercedes  the  tabernacle.  You  will  thus  perceive 
that  I  consider  the  vision  of  the  Nevv  Heavens  to  embrace 
both  the  Davidic  and  Solomon  reign,  both  the  Tabernacle  and 
Temple  state  of  Messiah's  kingdom.  I  know  the  objection 
that  is  made  to  the  idea  that  the  thousand  years  are  included 
within  the  period  of  the  dispensation  of  the  Nevv  Heavens, 
from  the  statement  that  there  was  no  more  sea,  after  the  first 
earth  and  heaven  had  passed  away;  and  that  yet  the  sea  gave 
up  the  dead,  ivhich  were  in  it  when  the  judgment  took  place  be- 
fore the  white  throne  after  the  thousand  years  were  ended. 
But  1  beg  it  to  be  observed, 


102  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

1.  That  the  words,  "and  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth;  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away. 
And  there  was  no  more  sea,"  (Rev.  xxi.  1,)  form  a  separate 
and  independent  vision  expressive  of  the  final  modification  that 
ensues,  the  whole  dispensation  at  one  glance  passing  before 
him:  and  is  no  more  necessarily  affirmative  that  the  sea  ceased 
at  once  to  be,  when  the  new  dispensation  commenced,  than 
the  prophecy  of  Micah  iv.  is  necessarily  affirmative  tliat  He, 
who  came  out  of  Bethlehem  Ephratah,  did  at  his  coming  out 
thereof  become  Ruler  in  Israel,  become  great  unto  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  and  execute  the  vengeance  written. 

2.  I  am  also  aware  that  the  passing  away  of  the  first  heaven 
and  earth  is  said  to  have  taken  place  when  the  Judge  taketh 
his  station  upon  the  white  throne,  because  it  is  said  concerning 
him,  that  from  his  '"face  the  earth  and  the  heaven  fled  away;" 
but  while  this  is  predicated  of  him,  it  is  not  said  that  they  flee 
away  from  his  face  uhen  he  taketh  his  station  upon  the  white 
throne,  but  on  the  contrary  they  are  said  to  have  fled  away  from 
his  face — but  his  face  was  disclosed  to  their  view  at  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  beast,  for  then  every  eye  saw  him,  before  the  thou- 
sand years  commenced,  and  I  therefore  argue  that  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  had  passed  away  at  least  a  thousand  years  before, 
even  at  the  time  when  he  looked  out  upon  the  earth  from  the 
cloud  of  his  glory.  It  is  only  spoken  of  as  a  note  of  identity 
to  distinguish  him,  just  as  the  fact  of  his  riding  upon  an  ass  is 
parenthetically  introduced  to  identify  the  king  of  Israel,  who 
cuts  off  the  charlol  from  Ephraim  and  the  horse  from  Jerusalem 
and  whose  domimo?i  extendethyVom  sea  eve?i  to  sea,  and  from  the 
river  even  to  the  ends  cf  the  earth,  Zech.  ix.  9,  10,  with  the  lowly 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  From  not  noticing  this  prophetic  mode  of 
writing,  we  are  often  in  danger  of  falling  into  a  similar  error 
with  the  Jews,  who  were  unable  to  see  tlie  fulfilment  of  any 
prophecies  in  the  Messiah,  because  all  that  was  said  of  him  did 
not  come  to  pass  in  the  term  of  his  natural  life. 

3. — Unless  the  new  heaven  and  new  earth  were  identical 
with  the  orb  we  inhabit  and  its  atmosphere,  it  could  never  be 
said  there  was  no  more  sea — that  it  was  ?to  more,  or  no  lofiger, 
implies  that  it  had  been  before.  The  new  heavens  and  new 
earth  must  therefore  be  a  modification  or  altered  state  of  the 
first  heavens  and  the  first  earth. 

But  much  stress  has  been  laid  upon  the  absolute  destruction 
of  the  enemies,  >vhose  entire  subjugation  is  to  lead  to  the  sur- 
render of  the  kingdom  to  the  Father.  Christ  is  to  put  down  or 
destroy  every  principality,  and  the  last  enemy  he  is  to  put 
down  or  destroy  is  death.  The  word,  n^rcLfyim^put  down,  implies 
something  different  to  destruction.     Scapula  defines  it,  "reddo 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  103 

ttifiyov,  et  inefficacem,  facio  cessare  ab  operl,  tollo,  aboleo."  It 
signifies,  in  this  place,  the  depriving  enemies  of  all  evil  energy, 
the  entire  paralysis  of  all  hostility,  the  cessation  of  enmity,  the 
abolishing  of  strife,  the  reduction  of  death  to  a  powerless  and 
inoperative  condition.  With  regard  to  himself,  Christ  did 
thus  deprive  him  of  power  and  abolished  death,  (2  Tim.  i.  10) 
when  he  arose  from  the  sepulchre;  and  so  also,  as  it  concerned 
himself,  did  he  render  powerless,  or  deprive  of  energy,  para- 
lyse, destroy  not  only  death,  but  him  also  that  had  tiie  power 
of  death,  that  is  the  Devil,  (Heb.  ii.  15)  and  more  than  this — 
he  did  thus  virtually  abolish,  enervate,  paralyse,  and  deprive 
them  of  all  energy,  as  it  regards  every  object  of  redemption — 
When  full  effect  is  given  to  his  work,  then  will  death  and  Satan 
lose  all  activity,  and  cease  to  exercise  any  influence  or  au- 
thority.— But  this  will  not  be  the  case  till  after  the  Davidic 
reign  has  closed. — This  result  is  posterior  to  the  judgment 
before  the  great  white  throne — while  enemies  remain,  what- 
ever restraint  may  be  imposed  upon  their  enmity,  either  by 
exterior  force,  such  as  the  rod  of  iron,  or  judicially,  the  king- 
dom will  not  be  surrendered  to  the  Father.  It  is  obvious,  that 
these  enemies  are  fiow  rampant. — The  Devil  is  going  about  as 
a  roaring  lion,  unchained. — He  is  still  in  fujl  and  undeniable 
possession  of  his  usurpation  as  god  of  this  world,  and  prince  of 
the  power  of  the  air.  The  whole  world  lieth  in  him. — Death, 
spiritual,  is  dominant.  Death  and  the  grave  are  daily  slaying 
their  millions.  Christ,  indeed,  made  a  shew  of  them  all,  triumph- 
ing  over  them,  in  himself,  iv  mtu,,  (and  thus  margin,)  at  his 
ascension,  (Col.  ii.  15.)  when  he  led  captivity  captive;  and 
before  that  hour,  he  saw  Satan  as  lightning  fall  from  heaven, 
when  the  unclean  spirits  being  cast  out  by  his  disciples,  proof 
was  afforded  of  the  mighty  potency,  which  is  lodged  in  the 
heirs  of  the  kingdom,  and  shall  ultimately  be  put  forth  for  the 
entire  subversion  of  all  evil;  but  it  was  only  a  shew  he  then 
made  of  the  adversaries,  and  it  was  but  in  vision,  and  in 
earnest  of  his  ultimate  ejection,  he  beheld  the  fall  of  Satan 
from  heaven.  There  we  still  find  him  lodged,  for  it  is  against 
him  and  his  wretched  coadjutors,  as  in  the  occupation  of  the 
heavenlics,  (Eph.  vi.  12,)  we  are  called  on  to  wrestle.  Till 
the  time  comes  for  casting  them  out,  he  will  continue  to  sit  at 
the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  (Ps.  ex.  1.)  'Tis  somewhat 
strange,  after  Mr.  Gipps'  admission,  that  the  subjugation  of 
enemies  is  future;  that  they  are  not  in  fact  made  Messiah's 
footstool;  he  should,  nevertheless,  argue  from  this  psalm,  that 
they  are  his  footstool;  that  his  session,  at  the  Father's  right 
hand,  is  equivalent  to  his  rule  in  the  midst  of  them;  that  "at 
his  ascension,  he  was  invested  with  this  kingdom  over  all  prin- 


2Q4  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

cipalities  and  powers,"  (Eph.  i.  20,  21;  1  Pet.  iii.  22;)  and 
that  it  is  tiiis  kingdom  which,  upon  the  final  extirpation  of  the 
enemies,  he  is  to  deliver  up.  He,  indeed,  afterwards  some- 
what more  cautiously  expresses  himself,  when  he  speaks  of  the 
"absolute  authority  over  all  enemies,"  which  belongeth  unto 
the  Son  of  Man. — Such  an  authority  does  truly  belong  to  him 
— all  pozver  is  given  to  him. — It  has  been  granted  to  him  to  sit 
down  on  the  Father's  throne;  but  his  own  throne,  on  which 
his  fellow  victors  are  to  sit  along  with  him,  he  occupies  not  as 
yet. — His  session  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  is  antecedent 
to  his  rule,  and  must  not  be  confounded  with  it.  "Sit  thou  at 
my  right  hand,"  was  the  address  to  him  at  the  ascension,  and  is 
expressive  of  his  present  dignity  and  position. — ''The  Lord 
shall  send  the  rod  of  thy  strength  out  of  Zion,  rule  thou  &c." 
is  a  prospective  promise  descriptive  of  his  future  reign. — His 
elevation  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  was  fulfilled  at  the 
ascension,  (Acts  ii.  32-36;)  but  his  position  there  is  one  of 
expectation,  where  he  patiently  awaiteth  the  hour,  when  he 
shall  receive  the  kingdom  over  enemies,  by  constituting  them 
his  footstool,  (Heb.  x.  12,  13.;  If  Paul  (in  Eph.  ii.  20—22,) 
speaks  of  him  at  the  right  hand  as  advanced  above  all  princi- 
pality, and  as  having  acquired  a  name  above  every  name,  so 
that  virtually  and  in  purpose  all  things  are  put  under  his  feet 
as  the  Church's  head;  and  if  another  Apostle  speaks  of  him  as 
"on  the  right  hand  of  God,  angels  and  authorities  and  powers 
being  made  subject  unto  him"  (1  Pet.  iii.  22;)  we  must  bear 
in  mind  the  modifying  statement  of  the  inspired  comment  on 
the  kindred  prediction  (of  Ps.  viii.  6.)  ''thou  hast  put  all  things 
under  his  feet,"  which  we  meet  with,  (Heb.  ii.  8,)  "But  now 
we  see  not  yet  all  things  put  under  him;"  and  learn  to  inter- 
pret those  places  as  we  would  Rom.  viii.  30,  where  those  who 
are  juslijied  are  said  to  be  also  glorified,  though  they  are  onl}' 
o-Jorified  in  purpose,  and  shall  not  enter  upon  glory,  till  the 
Son  of  Man  cometh  in  his  kingdom.  Very  strangely  I  must 
say  has  Phil.  ii.  7 — 11  been  referred  to  in  proof  that,  as  a 
reward  of  his  sufferings,  he  has  already  received  the  kingdom 
over  principalities  and  powers.  They  are  not  even  mentioned, 
nor  is  the  kingdom — but  the  ultimate  design  of  his  exaltation, 
and  of  his  acquisition  of  that  name,  which  is  above  every  name, 
is  stated  to  be,  "that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should 
bow  of  the  heavenlies,  (f.Tci/^av/w,)  of  the  earthlies,  (sTijaav,)  and 
of  the  undcr-grounders,  (MTax^cnm,)  and  every  tongue  confess 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father." 
But  as  Paul  says  of  Ps.  viii.  6,  so  say  I  of  this  statement  of  his, 
■we  see  not  yet  all  the  heavenlies,  the  earthlies,  and  the  under- 
grounders  bowing  the  knee  at  Jesus'  name,  nor  hear  we  all 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  ^05 

tongues  confessing  him.  For  tliis  blessed  result  we  must  wait 
patiently.  It  remains  to  be  effected  when  the  times  of  reani- 
rnalion,  (uvct^u^i;,)  shall  come  y"rom  l/ie  presence  of  the  Lord  (Acts 
iii.  19.)  We  must  wait  for  it — for  Jesus  himself  waiteth  for 
it,  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  till  his  enemies  are 
made  his  footstool.  There  must  he  continue  to  sit  till  the 
appointed  hour  cometh,  for  it  is  written  of  him,  on  his  session 
there,  "whom  the  heavens  must  receive  for  contain)  until  the 
times  of  the  re-establishing  of  all  things,  which  God  hath  spoken 
by  the  mouth  of  all  his  holy  prophets  since  the  world  began," 
(Acts  iii.  21.)  But,  as  a  vast  deal  depends  upon  the  view, 
which  is  taken  of  Psalm  ex.  I  would  draw  your  attention, 
before  we  proceed  further,  a  little  more  minutely  to  it.  The 
following  is  Horseley's  Version,  followed  by  extracts  from 
some  of  his  notes: — 

Messiah's  exaltation. 

1.  [Thus]  spake  Jehovah  to  my  Lord, 
"Sit  thou  on  my  right  hand,  till  I  make 
Thine  enemies  thy  foot-stool." 

2.  The  Sceptre  of  thy  power  Jehovah  shall  send  abroad  from  Zion; 
Have  thou  dominion  in  the  very  midst  of  thine  enemies. 

3.  With  thee  shall  be  offerings  of  free  will, 

In  the  day  of  thy  power,  in  the  beauties  of  holiness. 

The  dew  of  thy  progeny  is  more  than  of  the  womb  of  the  morning. 

4.  Jehovah  hath  bound  himself  by  an  oath,  and  will  not  repent; 
Thou  art  a  Priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedech. 

5.  The  Lord,  at  thy  right  hand,  O  Jehovah,* 
Woundeth  kings  in  the  day  of  his  wrath. 

ORACULAR  VOICE. 

6.  He  shall  strive  with  the  heathen,  filling  all  with  slaughter, 
Wounding  the  head  of  mighty  ones  upon  the  earth.t 

7.  He  shall  drink  of  the  brook  beside  the  way 
Therefore  shall  he  lift  up  his  head. 

Ver.  3.  "The  'offerings  of  free  will'  denote  the  spiritual  worship  of  the 
Gospel" — "If  our  modern  text  gives  the  true  reading,  the  expression  is  to  be 
joined  with  'offerings  of  free  will,'  as  another  phrase  for  the  same  thing, 
intimating  that  that  spiritual  devotion,  which  the  Gospel  requires,  is  alone 
worthy  of  God,  and  is  the  perfection  of  worship.  But  if  the  reading  of  the 
Ixx.  be  adopted,  as  it  is  represented  in  the  Alexandrine  MSS.  which  seems  to 
have  been  Tianp  '''\•^r^2  'the  splendours  of  thy  Saints,'  it  is  either  a  periphrasis 
for  the  Saints  and  Aogels  in  heaven,  who  are  thus  described  as  joined  with 
Christians  upon  earth  in  the  offerings  of  free  will;  or  the  clause  'in  the  splen- 
dours of  thy  saints,'  is  a  farther  description  of  the  time  for  those  free-will  offer- 
ings, intended,  in  the  preceding  clause,  by  'the  day  of  thy  power.'    After  a 

*  COMMON  VERSION. 

The  Lord  at  thy  right  hand 

Shall  strike  through  kings  in  the  day  of  his  wrath, 
t  "Or,  according  to  the  modern  reading,  'wounding  the  head  of  a  great 
country.' " 

VOL.  III. — 3*4 


2QQ  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

long  examination  of  the  kindred  expression,  Ps.  xcvi.  9,  which  is  similarly 
connected  with  the  bringing  of  a  bread  offering  into  his  courts,  by  the  heathen; 
all  the  earth  being  admonished  to  stand  in  awe  of  him,  he  adds,  'The  divine 
Spirit  looked  forward  to  the  institution  of  that  universal  worship,  in  which  the 
only  offering  should  be  a  mincha,  commemorative  of  the  one  efficacious  bloody 
sacrifice,  offered  once  for  all.  And  this  is  a  i'urther  argument,  that  'the  beau- 
ties of  holiness,'  intended  by  the  divine  spirit,  are  to  be  looked  for  in  that 
improved  spiritual  worship." 

Ver.  5. — "In  the  first  verse,  the  Lord  is  distinguished  from  Jehovah,  and 
placed  at  his  right  hand.  It  is  difficult  to  believe,  that  at  so  small  a  distance  in 
the  same  Psalm,  both  the  titles  and  the  situations  should  be  interchanged,  viz., 
Jehovah  called  the  Lord,  and  placed  at  the  Lord's  right  hand.  1  am,  there- 
fore, Ttiuch  inclined  to  indulge  in  a  conjkcture,  which  Dr.  Kennicott,  too, 
seems  to  have  entertained,  that  the  word  nin>  or  cn'^N  hath  been  lost  out  of 
the  text,  after  the  word  irc^  and  should  be  restored!!!" 

Ver.  7.  "The  composition  of  this  Psalm  is  admirable  in  the  extaiic  style. 
The  Psalmist  begins  gravely,  relating  in  the  first  verse,  an  oracular  promise 
of  Jehovah  to  his  Lord.  Then,  in  the  2d,  3d,  and  4th  verses,  he  addresses  his 
discourse  to  his  Lord,  upon  the  subject  of  that  promise.  In  5th  verse,  having 
before  his  imagination,  the  scene  of  his  Lord's  achievements  in  his  state  of 
exaltation,  his  admiration  breaks  out  in  words  addressed  to  Jehovah.  The 
7th  and  8th,  I  am  much  inclined  to  consider  as  the  reply  of  an  oracular  voice 
to  the  astonished  prophet." 

This  view  of  the  structure  of  the  Psalm,  is,  I  believe,  en- 
tirely correct,  with  the  exception  of  the  view  of  verse  5,  which, 
as  you  will  observe  above,  is  founded  on  a  conjectural  emenda- 
tion, unworthy,  altogether,  of  his  great  critical  powers.  He 
found  it  ^'difficult  to  believe,^'  that  in  '<an  ecstatic  Psalm,  at  so 
small  a  distance,"  in  prophetic  writing,  though  not,  observe, 
in  prophetic  time,  "the  titles  and  the  situation  should  be  inter- 
changed;" hence,  he  says,  he  was  "much  inclined  to  indulge 
in  a  conjecture," — the  inclination  is  forthwith  indulged — the 
conjecture  is  instantly  expressed — the  word  Jehovah  must  have 
been  lost  out  of  the  text; — it  is  inserted  at  once,  as  a  vocative; 
and  an  address  to  the  Son  is  straightway  transmuted  into  an 
address  to  the  Father.  This  is  a  very  reprehensible  mode  of 
criticism;  but  it  is  one  which  has  been  very  rarely  adopted  by 
this  great  man.  However,  he  misunderstood  Kennicott: — his 
sole  remark  on  verse  5  was  this, — "I  think  the  ancient  versions 
read  here  nin'-" — not  meaning  that  the  word  Jehovah  was  in- 
serted in  these  versions  as  a  vocative,  but  that  it  occupied  the 
place,  which  the  word  ijix,  or  Lord,  does  in  our  text.  And  so 
our  translators  manifestly  thought  also,  for  they  have  printed 
the  word,  Lord,  in  capitals,  as  if  the  original  were  Jehovah; 
and  so  the  original  is  in  many  manuscripts.  This  emendation, 
however,  does  not  vary  the  sense;  Jehovah  is  Adoni,  and 
Adoni  is  Jehovah.  In  Horseley's  general  outline  I  fully  agree. 
— First,  the  exaltation  of  the  ascended  Adoni  to  the  right  hand 
of  the  Father:  and  the  solemn  promise  that  he  should  set  there, 
till  his  enemies  were  to  be  made  his  foot-stool,  is  announced 
bj  the  oracular  voice.     I  say,  until  they  are  to  be  made  his 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  107 

foot-stool,  or  the  period  of  subjugation  arrives.  This  appears 
from  the  textn>iy>s  ly,  'Hill  I  shall  cause  to  make,"  or  place; — such 
is  the  force  of  the  conjugation,  Hiphil,  which  conveys  the  idea 
of  causing  another  to  do.  That  other,  here,  must  be  the  Mes- 
siah himself,  who  is  to  sit  at  the  right  hand,  and  be  retained 
in  the  heavens,  till  the  Father  shall  cause  him  to  make, — not 
has  already  made, — his  enemies  his  footstool.  Messiah  shall 
be  the  Father's  agent,  and  instrument,  in  accomplishing  this 
very  work  for  himself.  But  this  appears  further,  from  the 
second  portion  of  the  Psalm,  which  consists  of  a  prophetic  ad- 
dress to  the  exalted  and  ascended  Adoni,  sitting  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  Father,  (ver.  2 — 5,)  an  address  which  is  continued 
through  the  //iiW  portion,  (v.  6,  7.)  whether  it  is  to  be  consider- 
ed as  an  oracular  response  or  not.  1st,  Jehovah,  it  is  predicted, 
shall  send  the  sceptre  of  Messiah's  power  abroad  from  Zion. 
The  prophet  here  takes  up  precisely  the  import  of  the  oracular 
address,  and  ascribes  the  impelling  povver,  by  which  Messiah's 
own  sceptre  shall  be  swayed,  to  the  Father,  who  shall  cause 
that  sceptre  to  be  sent  abroad  from  Zion.  Right  fearful  shall 
be  the  sweep  of  its  vengeance.  It  shall  dash  to  pieces,  as  a 
potter's  vessel,  the  embattled  hosts  of  Antichrist,  Ps.  ii.  9. 
2ndly,  In  the  very  midst  of  his  enemies,  shall  his  dominion  be 
established.  The  enemies  here  spoken  of,  must  continue  pre- 
sent, to  admit  of  his  thus  ruling  in  the  midst  of  them.  He 
shall  place  his  feet  7ipo?i  their  necks,  in  partial  fulfilment  of  the 
oracular  promise,  that  his  enemies  shall  be  made  his  fool-slool. 
There  are  two  ideas  in  Scripture,  apparently  attached  to  this 
form  of  expression: — one,  the  actual  exterm'matiori  of  enemies. 
Thus  was  it  when  Joshua  caused  the  five  kings  to  be  drawn 
forth  from  the  cave,  and  addressed  the  captains  of  the  men  of 
war,  which  went  with  him,  saying,  "Come  near,  put  your  feet 
upon  the  necks  of  these  kings.  And  they  came  near  and  put 
their  feet  upon  the  necks  of  them."  This  was  altogether  a 
symbolical  action.  The  confederacy  of  the  kings,  which  was 
formed  against  Israel,  was  thus  broken.  It  is  remarkable  that 
it  was  headed  by  Adoni-Zedech,  King  of  Jerusalem,  by  name, 
pretension,  and  office,  the  actual  type  of  Antichrist.  By  name, 
the  Lord  of  Righteousness — Antichrist  will  assume  the  name, 
as  the  anti-Messiah,  of  the  Righteous  Adoni.  By  preten- 
sion, exhibit  himself  as  the  true  object  of  worship,  (2  Thess. 
ii.  4,)  and  deny  the  Father  and  the  Son,  (Dan.  xi.  36,  37;  1 
John  ii.  22.)  By  office,  be  king  of  Jerusalem,  (Dan.  xi.  41 
— 45.  As  Adoni-Zedech  and  his  confederate  kings  were  sub- 
jugated and  destroyed,  the  feet  of  Joshua's  captains  being  placed 
upon  their  necks,  so  shall  Antichrist  and  his  confederate  kings. 
Thus  does  Messiah  address  the  giver  of  victory,  whose  right 


log  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

ha7id  hath  holden  him  up  in  the  conflict  with  his  foes. — '<I  have 
pursued  mine  enemies  and  overtaken  them:  neither  did  I  turn 
again  till  they  were  consumed.  I  have  stamped  them  to  the 
ground  that  they  were  not  able  to  rise.  They  are  fallen  under 
my  feet.  For  thou  has  girded  me  with  strength  to  the  battle; 
thou  hast  subdued  under  me  those  that  rose  up  against  me. 
Thou  hast  also  given  me  the  necks  of  mine  enemies,  that  I 
might  destroy  them."  (Psalm  xviii.  35 — 40;  comp.  Isa.  xxx. 
28.)  Again  the  Prophet,  foreseeing  the  judgment  of  the  Am- 
monites, says,  "Whiles  they  see  vanity  unto  thee,  whiles 
they  divine  a  lie  unto  thee,  to  bring  thee  upon  the  necks  of  the 
slam,  upon  the  necks  of  the  wicked,  rohose  day  is  come,  when 
their  iniquity  shall  have  an  end,"  (Ezekiel  xxi.  29.)  And 
as  the  captains  of  Joshua  trod  on  kings  in  the  day  of  Joshua's 
conquest,  so  shall  the  righteous  in  the  day  of  Jesus'  vic- 
tory. They  who  fear  his  name,  "shall  tread  down  the  wick- 
ed; for  they  shall  be  as  ashes  ujider  the  soles  of  their  feet,  in 
the  day  that  I  shall  do  this,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts."  (Mai. 
iv.  3.)  But  there  is  also  another  idea  attached  to  the  ex- 
pression, which  implies  simply  the  subjection  and  not  the  ex- 
tinction of  those,  who  are  made  the  footstool  of  conquerors. 
Thus  spake  the  prophet  to  the  Jews,  through  Zedekiah,  their 
king,  "Bring  your  necks  under  the  yoke  of  the  king  of  Baby- 
lon, and  serve  him  and  his  people,  and  live,"  (Jer.  xxvii.  12.) 
Zion's  most  piteous  complaint  at  present  is,  "our  necks  are  un- 
der persecution;  we  labour  and  have  no  rest,"  (Lam.  v.  5.) 
Thus  the  Assyrian,  overflowing  Immanuel's  land,  is  to  "reach 
even  to  the  neck,"  (Isa.  viii.  8.)  But  the  burden,  which  the 
mystic  Assyrian  imposeth,  it  is  predicted  shall  be  removed 
from  off  their  shoulder,  (Isa.  x.  27.)  In  the  day  of  Judah's 
triumph,  however,  it  is  written,  on  the  other  hand,  "He  bring- 
eth  down  them  that  dwell  on  high;  the  lofty  city  he  layeth  it 
low,  even  to  the  ground;  he  bringeth  it  even  to  the  dust;  The 
foot  shall  tread  it  down,  even  the  feet  of  the  poor  and  the  steps 
of  the  needy,"  (Isa.  xxvi.  5,  6.)  Addressing  the  covetous, 
who  take  possession  of  lands  by  violence;  and  the  oppressors, 
who  defraud  innocent  families  and  eject  them  from  their  homes, 
the  Lord  saith,  "Behold,  against  this  family  do  I  devise  an 
evil,  from  which  ye  shall  not  remove  your  7iecks,  neither  shall 
ye  go  haughtily,"  (Mic.  ii.  3.)  The  whole  matter  is  summed 
up  in  Psalm  xlvii.  which  may  be  regarded  not  only  as  parallel 
to,  but  also  as  an  enlarged  exposition  of  the  thought,  rule  thou 
in  the  midst  of  thine  enemies. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  109 

1.  O  softly  apply*  your  hand,  all  ye  peoples, 
Shout  unfo  God  with  the  voice  of  triumph, 

2.  For  Jehovah  the  High,  the  Terrible, 
Is  the  great  king  over  all  the  earth: 

3.  He  sulxiueth  the  peoples  under  us, 
And  the  nations  under  our  feet. 

4  He  chooseth  for  us  our  inheritance, 

The  elation  of  Jacob  whom  he  loveth.     Selah. 

5.  God  is  gone  up  with  loud  shouting, 
Jehovah  with  the  sound  of  a  trumpet. 

6.  Sing  ye,  God,  sing  ye, 
Sing  ye  to  Jehovah,  sing  ye. 

7.  He  is  established  King  of  all  the  earth- 
Sing  ye  God  with  imderstanding. 

8.  God  reigneth  over  the  Gentiles, 

God  sitteth  on  the  throne  of  hiss  holiness. 

9.  The  willing  of  the  peoples  are  gathered  together, 
A  people  of  the  God  of  Abraham. 

Because  the  protectors  of  the  earth  are  for  God, 
He  is  greatly  exalted. 

In  this  Psalm,  which  Horseley  properly  names  "A  Song  of 
Triumph,  in  prospect  of  the  establishment  of  God's  universal 
kingdom,"  Messiah  having  become  the  Great  King  over  all 
the  earth  is  described  (ver.  3,)  not  as  extinguishing,  but  subdu- 
ing the  nations,  when  he  placeth  them  under  the  feet  of  Israel. 
— Having  achieved  this  conquest,  he  goeth  "up  the  hill  of  Sion. 
God  is  described  as  returning  to  his  ancient  seat  among  the 
chosen  people ;"t  and  reigning  over  the  Gentiles,  the  lailling 
amongst  them  or  "the  voluntary  ones,"  as  Horseley  has  it,  gather 
themselves  unto  him  in  contradistinction  to  the  residue,  and 
are  formed  into  a  people  of  the  God  of  Abraham.  While  the 
Protectors  or  Princes  of  the  people  being  on  his  side,  his  ex- 
altation  is  complete,  and  very  greatly  is  he  to  be  feared.  So 
that  we  are  here  presented  with  a  full  explanation  of  the  do- 
minion,  which  Messiah  exercises  in  the  midst  of  his  enemies. 
Thus  accurately,  therefore,  does  the  act  of  the  Father,  in  send- 
ing forth  Messiah's  sceptre  from  Zion,  and  causing  him  to  rule 
amidst  his  foes,  correspond  with  the  engagement  that  he  would 
cause  him  to  make  them  his  footstool,  Returning  then  to  Ps. 
ex.  I  find,  in  addition,  that  he  is  to  receive  the  oflTerings  of  free 
will  in  this  day  of  his  power,  when  surrounded  with  the  splen- 
dours of  his  Saints,  just  as  the  willing  of  the  people  are  said  to 
gather  around  him,  (Ps,  xlvii.  9;)  and  when  the  dew  of  his 
progeny  shall  become  more  numerous  than  those,  which  spring 
from  the  morning's  womb.  Furthermore,  I  find  it  is  predict- 
ed of  him,  at  this  juncture,  that  he  will  strike  through  kings, 
strive  with  the  Heathen,  filling  all  with  slaughter,  and  wound 

*  To  the  mouth,  in  allusion  to  the  practice  still  observed  among  the  Syrian 
women,  who  in  joy  keep  patting  the  mouth  as  they  chaunt,  "Lille  li  li  lij" 
which  they  call  the  Zeraleet. 

t  Horseley. 
34* 


J 10  '^'HE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

the  head  of  the  mighty  ones  upon  the  earth.     Can  it  he  shewn, 
that  such  a  day  of  wrath  thus  dawned  upon  earth  when  he  as- 
cended on  high,  and  took  his  seat  at  the  right  hand?    Still  two 
difficulties  may  be  urged — one,  from  the  oath,  which  is  record- 
ed (ver.  4,)  'Hhou  art  a  Priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  Mel- 
chisedech."     Paul  teaches  us  that  he  is  already  made  so,  (Heb. 
vi.  20,)  and  argues  the  change  of  the  Law  from  the  change  of 
the  Priesthood,  (Heb.  vii.  11,  12.)     But  the  same  Paul  tells 
us  he  had  many  things  to  say  of  him,  as  such,  which  were  hard 
to  be  uttered,  by  reason  of  our  dulness  in  hearing,  (Heb.  v. 
11;)  so  hard  to  be  uttered  that  in  the  exposition  of  his  priest- 
hood he    confines  himself  to   the  analogy,  which  existed  be- 
tween it  and  that  of  Aaron;  carefully  notices  his  kingship  of 
Salem,  (Heb.  vii.  1;)  the  new  covenant,  which,  in  the  exercise 
of  his  office,  he  is  hereafter  to  make  with  Israel  (viii.  8;)  and 
his  future  return  at  the  judgment,  from  the  holiest  of  all,  (into 
which  he  hath  entered  for  us,)  without  sin,  unto  the  salvation 
of  those  that  look  for  him,  (Heb.  ix.  28.)     He  is  now  behind 
the  vail.     Hereafter  he  shall  come  forth;  his  Epiphany  as  High 
Priest,  in  all  the  gorgeous  robes  of  office  shall  take  place,  and 
he  shall  assume  his  seat  upon  his  throne  as  king  of  Jerusalem, 
(see  Zechar.  vi.  12 — 15,  comp.  with  Zech.  ix.  9 — 17,  and  xiv. 
16.)     That  this  reference  to  tlie  Melchisedech  priesthood  does 
not  connect  itself  with  his  entrance  upon  the  priestly  office  at 
the  ascension,  or  with  his  present  mediation,  as  such  in   the 
Holiest  of  all,  but  with  his  future  exercise  of  povi^er,  as  the 
royal  Priest,  I  argue  from  the  fact  that  this  oath,  which  was 
sworn  to  him,  and  registered  above,  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  is  introduced  manifestly  in  corroboration  of  the  subject 
matter  of  the   Psalm — that  the   peoples   shall  be  subdued  by 
him,  and  under  him  in  the  day  of  his  might,  when  as  king  or 
RIGHTEOUSNESS,  he  shall  come  in  the  splendour  of  his  saints; 
that  the  Lord  at  his  right  hand,  shall  smite   through   kings  in 
the  day  of  his  wrath;  and  that  the  sceptre,  which  belongeth  to 
him  as  the  Melchisedech  or  King  of  Righteousness,  shall  be  no 
less  an  instrument  of  power  than  a  symbol  of  imperial  supre- 
macy.    The  other  objection  may  be  drawn  from  the  statement, 
in  the  last  verse,  "he  shall  drink  of  the  brook  by  the  way," 
which  has  been  variously  interpreted  of  the  Messiah  in  his  day 
of  sorrow — of  the  cup  of  anguish   which  he  drank — of  the 
brook   Kidron,    by  which    he  trod   his   weary  way,  and  on 
whose  banks  he  tasted  of   his  last   dread  agony — of   tlie  aid, 
which  he  sought,  in  his  toilsome  travels  from  the  water,  which 
the  streams  of  Judea  afforded,  &c.     But,  independently  of  the 
fact,  that  such  a  notice  of  his  woe  very  ill  accords  with   the 
general  subject  of  the  Psalm;  and  would  form  an  inapt  conclu- 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  m 

sion  to  the  history  of  his  exaltation:  I  must  request  of  you  to 
notice  that  it  constitutes  a  part  of  the  third  portion  of  the  Psalm, 
in  which  there  is  a  remarkable  change  of  person  from  the 
second  to  the  third. — This  change  of  person  fully  warrants 
Horseley's  idea  of  its  being  an  oracular  respoiise  corroborative  of 
the  Psalmist's  previous  address  to  Messiah,  his  Adoni,  on  his 
exaltation  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  High — Verse  7, 
establishes  the  fact,  by  a  direct  voice  from  the  sanctuary,  that 
he  shall  be  himself  active  in  destroying  his  enemies,  but  more 
especially  the  head  of  the  mighty  ones  on  the  earth.  That  head 
over  many  countries  is  unquestionably  the  Man  of  Sin,  the 
Antichrist.     The  correct  version  is  given,  I  believe,  by  Fry, 

7.  He  drinketh  of  the  Nile  on  the  way, 
Therefore  he  liftethhigh  his  head. 

His  note  is  excellent.  "I  consider  Sna  here  as  a  proper  name; 
Parkhurst  observes — 'from  the  Hebrew  ^jna  is  plainly  derived 
the  Greek  ns;aoc,  Latin  JVilus,  and  English  JVile.'  The  express 
meaning  of  the  Hebrew  term  is  a  low,  hollow  valley,  with  a 
stream  running  through  the  midst,  by  which  it  is  occasionally 
overflowed.  The  channels  of  most  streams  that  issue  from 
the  mountains,  answer  to  this  description;  and  the  whole  land 
of  Egypt  may  be  considered  as  a  channel  of  a  mountain  tor- 
rent, on  a  larger  scale,  whose  stream  usually  flows  quietly  in 
the  midst  of  it,  but  is  subject  to  its  periodical  overflowings." 
To  which  he  adds,  in  his  exposition,  "Daniel,  or  rather  the 
Angel  interpreter  that  addresses  himself  to  the  Prophet  in 
chapter  xii.  has  clearly  foreshewn,  that  one  circumstance  in 
the  last  conflict,  on  the  eve  of  the  second  Advent,  will  be  the 
seizing  of  Egypt  by  the  bestial  power;  by  which  circumstance 
his  heart  is  elated,  and  he  becomes  infuriated  to  his  destruc- 
tion." Thus  viewed  the  discomfited  head  of  many  countries, 
being  inflated  with  judicial  haughtiness  of  head,  is  represented 
as  bringing  down  on  himself  the  predicted  calamity.  But 
rapid  as  are  the  changes  in  prophecy  from  person  to  person,  I 
am  still  unwilling  to  decide  at  once,  with  Mr.  Fry,  that  it  is 
Antichrist,  who  drinketh  by  the  way.  I  am  rather  con- 
strained to  regard  the  prediction  as  referring  to  the  conquering 
Messiah  victorious  over  the  mystic  Egyptian,  who  while  he 
obtains  refreshment  from  the  living  fountain,  in  communion 
with  the  Father,  just  as  a  wearied  warrior  in  his  march  satisfies 
his  thirst  from  the  rivulet  that  flows  along  his  sultry  route, 
shall  also  drink  of  the  blood  of  the  slain,  as  is  predicted 
of  Israel,  who  "shall  not  lie  down,  until  he  eat  of  the  prey 
and  drink  of  the  blood  of  the  slain,"  (Num.  xxiii.  24,  comp. 
Isa.  Ixiii.  1-6;)  in  which  last  place,  moreover,  Messiah  is  like- 


112  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

wise  described  as  treading  down  the  peoples,  with  whose 
blood  his  raiment  is  sprinkled. 

Further,  it  may  be  proper  to  observe,  concerning  the  ex- 
pression, with  which  the  psalm  opens,  "sit  thou  at  my  right 
hand,"  that  it  is  far  from  being  expressive  of  the  idea  of 
independent  sovereignty.  The  right  hand  is  a  place  of  dignity 
and  authority,  but  it  is  a  place  of  reflected  dignity  and  of 
derivative  authority.  Thus  at  the  right  hand  of  Jesus  stands 
the  Queen,  in  gold  of  Ophir,  Psalm  xlv.  9.  Thus  of  old,  on 
his  right  hand,  was  Queen  Bathsheba  seated,  when  she  made 
her  suit  for  Adonijah  to  King  Solomon.  The  power  and  the 
honour  implied  in  the  session  at  the  right  hand,  therefore,  is 
not  expressive  of  power  as  of  se//"  directed,  nor  of  honour  as  of 
self  proceeding.  That  seat  simply  denoteth  the  station  of 
dignity  and  influence  which  belongeth  to  him,  whom  the  king 
delighteth  to  honour.  But  this  position,  when  taken  by  a 
superior,  while  it  may  only  denote  condescension,  is  in  Scrip- 
ture employed  to  express  the  relief,  which  he  brings  to  the 
weak,  the  afflicted,  or  the  oppressed.  We  meet  with  both 
uses  of  the  word  in  Messiah's  song  of  confidence,  in  the  pro- 
spect of  his  resurrection,  and  in  the  anticipation  of  the  soul- 
satisfying  results  of  the  travail  of  his  soul,  (Ps.  xvi.  8-11.) 
First  he  sees  Jehovah  at  his  right  hand  in  the  day  of  trial; — I 
SHALL  NOT  BE  MOVED,  is  the  couclusion  which  he  draws. 
Again,  the  impossibility  of  his  seeing  corruption  leads  to  the 
confident  assurance,  "thou  wilt  shew  me  the  path  of  life;  in 
thy  presence  is  fulness  of  joy;  at  thy  right  hand  are  pleasures 
for  evermore."  From  hence  I  argue,  that  when  the  Supreme 
Power  the  Fountain  of  honour,  saith,  *'sit  thou  at  my  right 
hand,"  he  confers  a  grant  of  honour,  authority,  and  consequent 
enjoyment,  subsidiary  to  his  own.  Hence  the  present  posi- 
tion of  Messiah,  as  intimated  in  these  words,  implies  not  the 
direct  active  exercise  of  an  independent  sovereignty,  such  as 
is  imported  in  the  words,  "rule  thou  in  the  midst  of  thine 
enemies,"  but  simply  a  quiescent  concurrence. 

We  have  hitherto  been  arguing  on  the  idea,  that  1  Cor.  xv. 
25,  is  a  direct  quotation  from  Ps.  ex.  1,  but  it  is  much  more; 
the  introduction  of  the  word  all  considerably  amplifies  the 
idea,  which  is  there  met  with.  When  seated  at  his  right 
hand,  Jehovah  simply  promises  Messiah  to  make  his  enemies 
his  footstool.  Here  it  is  said  of  Christ,  "he  must  reign  till  he 
hath  put  all  enemies  under  his  feet."  Now  the  reason  for 
this  universal  proposition  we  find  from  ver.  27,  to  be  derived 
from  Psalm  viii.  6,  "For,  he  hath  put  all  things  under  his 
feet,"  the  very  words  of  David,  in  the  prophecy  where  he 
views  Jesus  as  stilling   the  enemy  and    the   avenger,  and  as 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  113 

invested  with  entire  jurisdiction,  and  with  the  active,  uncon- 
trolled dominion  of  the  material  creation.  Whence  Paul 
views  the  whole  as  prospective,  also  adding,  ver.  28,  "And 
when  all  things  shall  be  subdued  unto  him,  then  shall  the  Son 
also  himself  be  subject  unto  him  that  put  all  things  under  him, 
that  God  may  be  all  in  all. 

Having  removed  these  difficulties,  I  now  proceed  to  the 
examination  of  the  context.  It  occurs  in  a  lengthened  discus- 
sion of  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  which  some 
choose  to  limit  to  the  question  of  the  resurrection  of  believers 
of  this  dispensation,  but  on  what  principle  I  know  not.  The 
statement  is  as  general  as  possible,  in  the  words  immediately 
preceding  this  important  passage.  "Since  by  man  came  death, 
by  man  came  also  a  resurrection  of  the  dead.  For  as  in 
Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ,  shall  all  be  made  alive. 
BUT  EVERT  MAN  IN  HIS  OWN  ORDER."  It  has  been  remarked, 
that  the  word,  -ra^iM^t,  signifies  bajid.  It  is  indifferent  as  to  our 
present  argument. — There  is  a  subsequent  distinction  made, 
not  only  between  the  bands  themselves,  but  also,  between  the 
periods  of  their  resurrection.  The  worth  of  that  band,  which 
obtains  precedence,  is  infinitely  great,  but  numerically,  it  only 
comprehends  a  unit.  Christ,  the  first  fruits,  great  anti- 
type of  the  Paschal  Wave-sheaf  (Lev.  xxiii.  10 — 14,)  by 
which  the  barley  harvest  was  sanctified.  Afterwards,  (iTrwra,) 
long  posterior  to  the  resurrection  of  the  first  band  "they  that 
are  Christ's  at  his  coming,  or  at  his  own  presence,"  {Trxpovrta.  avrou.) 
Most  carefully,  in  the  very  terms  by  which  this  band  is  dis- 
tinguished, are  the  ungodly  excluded  from  all  participation 
with  them  in  the  act  of  rising  from  the  grave.  — This  is  acceded 
— The  saints  are  allowed  to  have  the  precedence,  by  a  very 
brief  interval,  which,  if  I  understand  the  reasoning  correctly, 
cannot  extend  beyond  a  few  seconds,  or  it  may  be  a  few  hours. 
That  it  must  be  a  very  short  period,  within  the  compass  of  a 
natural  day,  that  intervenes  between  their  resurrection,  and 
that  of  the  rest  of  the  dead,  is  argued  from  the  adverb  of  time, 
with  which  the  next  clause  opens,  then,  {ut^,)  the  end. 
The  preceding  adverb  of  time,  (iTritTo,,)  afterwards  is  said  to  be 
"suited  to  denote  a  long  interval;"  the  adverb  urci,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  is  said,  is  only  "suited  to  denote  a  short  interval," 
because  the  places  in  which  Mr.  Gipps  discovers  its  employ- 
ment, have  reference  only  to  a  brief  period.  We  are  not 
interested,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  in  adjusting  the  relative  claims 
of  these  two  adverbs,  or  to  arbitrate  between  them  as  to  their 
capacity  of  expressing  a  long  interval  of  time;  but  we  may 
remark  as  somewhat  singular,  that  the  Lexicographical  skill  of 
Scapula,  was  insufficient  to  discover  this  inequality  of  power 


JJ4  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

between  them.  He  renders  them  both  by  the  same  words, 
poslea  deinde,  htm.  But  let  the  criticism  stand,  and  what  then? 
1{,  ma,  even  be  admitted  to  import  an  immediate  succession  of 
the  event,  to  the  notice  of  which  it  is  prefixed,  it  will  equally 
serve  our  purpose;  for  that  event  shall  indeed  immediately- 
succeed,  not  the  resurrection  of  the  saints,  but  the  (Trafxm^ix,  or) 
presence  of  Jesus.  You  will  perceive  at  once,  that  this  term 
is  not  restricted,  like  our  English  word  coming,  to  the  very 
moment  of  his  appearing,  or  arrival;  but  to  the  entire  period 
of  his  presence  as  king.  "Afterwards,  they  that  are  Christ's, 
during  his  presence" — the7i,  when  the  period  thus  character- 
ized cometh  to  its  close — ihe  end.  But  the  period  of  his  pre- 
sence  is  necessarily  a  very  long  interval,  for  it  is  during  this 
period  he  reigns  in  the  midst  of  his  enemies  as  the  David,  and 
finally  deprives  them  of  all  evil  energy,  as  the  Solomon.  I 
have  further  to  observe,  that  the  resurrection  of  the  saints  is, 
in  my  judgment,  symbolized  by  another  typical  action,  analo- 
gous to  that  of  the  wave-sheaf,  whereby  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  was  adumbrated.  Fifty  days  after  the  sheaf  of  barley 
was  waved,  two  leavened  wheaten  loaves,  the  produce  of  the 
ensuing  wheat  harvest,  were  commanded  to  be  waved  in  like 
manner;  and  of  these,  it  was  also  said,  "they  are  the  first  fruits 
unto  the  Lord,"  (Lev.  xxiii.  17.)  In  reading  this,  I  am  at 
once  reminded  of  the  words,  "we  being  many,  are  one  loaf," 
(1  Cor.  X.  17,)  and  I  discover  in  the  double  offering,  an  indica- 
tion of  the  two-fold  church,  Israelitish  and  Gentile;  Jacob  and 
Jeshurun,  or  the  righteous  ones;  the  two  witnesses,  both  of 
Isaiah  and  St.  John  (comp.  Isa,  xliii.  10,  and  xliv.  2 — S,  with 
Rev.  xi.  3,  4,  and  i.  20.)  Thus  Zechariah's  two  branched 
candlestick,  with  its  two  connected  olive  trees,  which  are  in- 
terpreted to  denote  the  "two  anointed  ones,  that  stand  by  the 
Lord  of  the  whole  earth,"  having  the  true  anointing  that 
teacheth  all  things;  and  the  two  women  who  obtain  the  empire, 
on  the  destruction  of  the  apostacy,  which  is  named  wicked- 
ness, (Zech.  iv.  11 — 14,  and  v.  5 — 11,)  doth  also  portray  the 
same  mystic  body,  separate,  yet  united. — Viev\-ing  then  the 
resurrection  of  the  saints,  as  the  first  fruits  of  another  harvest, 
it  necessarily  follows,  that  the  end  must  be  postponed  till  that 
harvest  can  be  gathered.  This  is  the  design  of  that  approach- 
ing dispensation,  wherein  the  Queen-consort  of  the  Lamb, 
shall  be  a  fruitful  mother  indeed,  and  the  dew  of  her  progeny 
shall  be  more  numerous  than  the  dew-drops  from  the  morn- 
ing's womb. 

Concerning  the  end  itself,  I  fully  accord  with  Mr.  Gipps, 
that  it  does  denote  a  crisis  which  was  right  well  understood 
by  the   Corinthian   church;  and  which,  I   believe,  to  be  the 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 


115 


actual  re-establishment  of  all  things  spoken  of  by  all  the  holy 
prophets,  to  which  those  limes  are  introductory,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  which,  Christ  shall  come  back  from  the  heavens, 
that  must  retain  him  till  then,  (Acts  iii.  21.)  I  further  agree 
with  Mr.  Gipps,  that  the  end  here  spoken  of,  is  not  the  ter- 
mination of  the  thousand  years,  but  of  that  much  longer  period, 
which  shall  elapse  before  all  enemies  are  fully  deprived  of 
their  evil  energy.  It  is  needless  to  enter  further  on  the  subject 
in  this  place,  as  any  additional  observations  I  might  make, 
would  have  no  direct  bearing  on  the  subject,  and  would  lead  to 
a  discussion,  far  more  copious  than  what  I  now  propose  to 
mj'self. 

I  have  postponed  till  now  one  other  passage,  on  which  Mr. 
Gipps  relies,  as  indicative  of  the  simultaneous  judgment  of  all 
the  living,  and  all  the  dead,  and  therefore  the  simultaneous 
resurrection  of  the  just  and  of  the  unjust. — "I  charge  thee  be- 
fore God  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  judge  the  quick 
and  the  dead,  at  his  appearing,  and  his  kingdom,"  2  Tim.  iv. 
1.  I  reserved  this  place  for  the  last,  that  we  might  arrive  first 
at  a  correct  idea,  both  of  the  judgment  which  Christ  is  to  ex- 
ercise, and  of  the  kingdom  which  he  is  to  possess. — The  words 
literally  run,  "I  charge  thee  before  God,  and  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  future  one  (or  who  is  hereafter)  to  judge  living 
ones,  and  dead  ones,  at  his  own  epiphany,  and  his  own  king- 
dom." Were  all  the  living,  and  all  the  dead  to  be  judged  at 
the  very  hour  of  the  Epiphany,  and  every  thing  concerning 
them  to  be  finally  determined,  at  one  and  the  same  moment, 
then  would  it  never  have  been  added  as  making  the  juncture, 
that  the  future  Lord  will  also  judge  them  at  his  own  kingdom. 
— The  difficulty,  which  this  expression  threw  in  his  way,  was 
so  fully  felt  by  Mr.  Gipps,  that  he  was  obliged  to  add  a  note 
apologetic  for  departing  from  his  own  exposition  of  the  king- 
dom, which  is  to  be  delivered  up,  as  over  enemies;  for  he  saw 
at  once,  that  if  this  kingdom,  according  to  his  idea,  was  to  be 
given  up  at  the  resurrection  of  the  saints,  it  could  never  be 
here  spoken  of,  an  event  equally  future  with  the  Epiphany 
itself — He  therefore  sends  us  for  light  to  all  the  passages, 
which  we  have  examined  in  the  beginning  of  this  letter;  and 
further,  attempts  to  make  a  distinction  between  the  kingdom  of 
1  Cor.  XV,  24,  which  Christ  delivers  up,  and  which  must  there- 
fore have  previously  been  his  oim;  and  his  kingdom  in  the 
verse  before  us, — the  sole  ground  of  the  criticism  being,  that 
the  word  kingdom,  has  an  article  prefixed  to  it  in  one  "place, 
and  a  personal  pronoun  in  the  other! — With  equal  force  might 
it  be  argued,  that  because  the  words  his  own  body,  the  church, 
have  each  the  personal  pronoun  annexed,  Eph.  i.  22,  and  Col. 


116 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 


i.  24,  they  must  refer  to  quite  a  different  matter  from  the  body, 
the  church  of  wiiich  he  is  described  to  be  the  head,  Col.  i.  18. 
His  exposition  of  the  meaning  of  the  expression,  his  kingdom, 
however,  renders  it  rather  an  indfjiniie  kind  of  mark  for  deter- 
mining the  precise  juncture  for  the  occurrence  of  that  jialural 
day,  in  which  he  maintains,  that  all  the  living,  and  all  the  dead, 
are  at  one,  and  the  same  moment,  to  be  judged. — "Here,  says 
he,  "the  expression  is  his  ki?igdom,  which  appears  to  me,  to 
signify  his  kingdom  of  the  Gospel  in  this  life,  and  of  eternal 
glory  in  the  life  to  come."  Supposing  this  notion  to  be  cor- 
rect, we  may  substitute  the  definition  for  the  words  defined. — 
See  how  the  passage  will  then  read,  "who  shall  judge  the 
quick  and  the  dead  at  his  epiphany,  and  his  kingdom  of  the 
gospel  in  this  life,  and  of  eternal  glory  in  the  life  to  come." — 
If  this  be  the  sense  of  the  passage,  the  notion  of  the  judgment 
being  confined  to  a  day  of  four  and  twenty  houi's,  is  necessa- 
rily overturned,  and  the  period  of  judgment  is  made  to  em- 
brace, not  a  thousand  years  only,  but  the  whole  period,  from 
the  first  advent  onward,  at  least,  to  the  judgment  before  the 
white  throne,  which  must  include  very  nearly  three  Mille- 
naries, and  more,  for  ought  that  we  are  informed. — This,  how- 
ever, is  a  greater  concession  than  I  demand.  I  am  willing  to 
strike  out  of  the  account,  the  whole  of  the  present  dispensa- 
tion, considering  the  period  of  judgment,  for  the  purpose  of 
exercising  which,  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  future  Lord,  shall  ap- 
pear, is  to  be  measured  solely  by  the  interval,  which  shall 
elapse  between  his  approaching  Epiphany,  and  the  delivering 
up  of  his  kingdom. — During  all  that  period,  concerning  the 
duration  of  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  intimation  of  the 
fact,  that  it  is  to  be  for  the  ages  of  the  ages,  no  light  is  afforded 
us  in  Scripture;  he  will  continue  to  exercise  the  office  of  Judge, 
and  sit  on  David's  throne,  as  king,  that  he  may  effectually 
paralyse  every  enemy. — At  his  Epiphany,  and  at  his  King- 
dom, which  is  successive  to  his  Epiphany,  the  process  of  judg- 
ing will  go  forward — dead  ones,  as  well  as  living  ones,  shall 
submit  to  the  sceptre,  which  he  wields.  I  know  not  that  I 
have  omitted  to  notice  any  argument  that  has  been  urged, 
though  I  have  not  attempted  to  pursue,  with  the  arguments  of 
a  logician,  the  syllogisms,  which  have  been  so  unsparingly  ac- 
cumulated on  this  branch  of  the  enquiry. — Mr.  Gipps*  third 
chapter  we  must  reserve  for  another  occasion. 

Yours  affectionately,  &c.  «Sic. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  117 


LETTER  V. 

Literal  and  Figurative  interpretation  discussed— Symbols — Psa.  xi.  6—8.  The 
Branch  and  Root  of  Jesse— Isa.  Iv.  12,  13.  Resurrection  of  Souls— Mr. 
Gipps'  Rules  of  Literal  and  Figurative  Interpretation  examined— First  Re- 
surrection as  connected  with  the  Statements  in  Zech.  xiv.  1—11.  Luke  xx. 
34— 3G.     Acts  iv.  1,  2.     1  Cor.  xv.     Phil.  iii.  11. 

Mr.  Gipps'  third  chapter,  which  professedly  treats  of  the 
arguments  in  favour  of  the  Millenarian  interpretation,  opens 
with  some  general  remarks  on  the  nature  of  literal  and  figura- 
tive interpretation  as  applied  to  Rev.  xx.  4.  In  discussing  this 
subject  he  has  fallen  into  the  very  common  error  of  confound- 
ing symbols  with  figures.  We  can  scarcely  take  up  any  ordi- 
nary composition  without  meeting  with  occasional  instances  of 
fgurative  writing.  If  it  be  the  production  of  a  poetic  mind, 
we  are  examining,  the  indications  of  a  lively  itnagination  will 
exhibit  themselves  in  every  page; — illustrations,  similes,  ori- 
ginal conceptions,  allusions  to  remote  analogies,  with  various 
proofs  of  the  writer's  possession  of  the  ideal  faculty,  will  pre- 
sent themselves  in  every  direction.  I  cannot  open  a  letter  of 
Cowper's,  written  in  all  the  confidence  of  friendship  to  his 
ordinary  correspondents,  without  finding  images,  continually 
recurring,  which  prove  the  writer  to  have  been  a  man  of  poetic 
genius.  I  have  this  moment  opened  the  first  Vol.  of  Hayley's 
collection  of  his  correspondence  at  random,  and  I  find  him  in 
speaking  of  our  recognition  of  friends  in  a  future  life,  writing; 
— "For  my  own  part,  this  life  is  such  a  momentary  thing,  and 
all  its  interests  have  so  shrunk  in  my  estimation,  since  by  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I  became  attentive  to  the  things 
of  another;  that  like  a  zoorm  in  the  bud  of  all  my  friendships 
and  affections,  this  very  thought  would  eat  the  heart  out  of  them 
all,  had  I  a  thousand;  and  were  their  date  to  terminate  with 
this  life,  I  think  I  should  have  no  inclination  to  cultivate  and 
improve  such  a  fugitive  business."*  Again,  describing  the 
morning  meals  of  his  pigeons,  in  a  few  letters  onward  to  Mr. 
Unwin,  he  adds,  "if  your  wish  should  be  accomplished,  and  you 
should  find  yourself  furnished  with  the  wings  of  a  dove,  I 
shall  undoubtedly  find  you  amongst  them.  Only  be  so  good, 
if  that  should  be  the  case,  to  announce  yourself  by  some  means 
or  other.  For  I  imagine  your  crop  will  require  something 
better  than   tares  to  fill  it."-f     Here  are  figures  in  abundance, 

*  Letter  xx.  t  Letter  xxxvii, 

VOL.  III. — 35 


H8  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

but  any  man  of  common  understanding  will  at  once  perceive 
they  are  figures.  He  will  be  in  no  danger  of  misconceiving 
their  import.  He  will  not  be  deceived  for  a  moment  into  the 
idea  of  it  being  possible  for  Mr.  Unwin  to  be  metamorphosed 
into  a  pigeon;  for  a  real  worm  to  eat  away  friendship — for 
friendship  itself  to  be  possessed  of  a  bud  or  a  heart,  or  for  an 
agriculturist  to  cultivate  the  Jield  of  affection.  I  now  turn  to 
Burke  on  the  French  Revolution.  I  open  him,  in  like  man- 
ner, and  I  read  the  following  passage  in  the  first  page  I  meet 
with,  where  he  endeavours  to  rebut  the  idea,  that  the  radical 
spouters  of  the  Old  Jewry  and  the  London  Tavern  are  the  fair 
representatives  of  English  feeling.  "Because  half  a  dozen 
grasshoppers  under  a  fern  make  the  field  ring  with  their  im- 
portunate chink,  whilst  thousands  of  great  cattle,  reposed  be- 
neath the  shadow  of  the  British  oak,  chew  the  cud  and  are  silent, 
pray  do  not  imagine  that  those  who  make  the  noise  are  the 
inhabitants  of  the  field;  that  of  course,  they  are  many  in  num- 
ber; or  that,  after  all,  they  are  more  than  the  little  shrivelled, 
meagre,  hopping,  though  loud  and  troublesome  insects  of  the 
hour."*  Now  here  we  have  nothing  but  figure,  and  yet  the 
figure  is  so  plain  throughout,  we  at  once  perceive  the  similitude, 
which  is  drawn  between  the  grasshoppers  and  the  noisy  revo- 
lutionary debaters  of  the  Tavern,  on  the  one  hand;  and  between 
the  nobler  animals  of  the  pasture,  whose  tranquillity  they  dis- 
turb not,  and  the  rational  population  of  Great  Britain  on  the 
other.  Yet  does  this  passage  of  our  great  orator,  more  nearly 
approximate  to  the  style  of  parable,  than  what  we  usually 
meet  with  in  compositions  that  delight  in  imagery.  A  parable 
however,  is  but  an  expanded  figure,  applied  to  the  illustration 
of  a  fact,  or  series  of  facts,  in  which  the  actors  are  shadowed 
out  by  metaphors,  that  are  allusive  to  their  respective  charac- 
ters and  conduct.  The  books  of  Proverbs,  and  Ecclesiastes, 
almost  entirely  consist  of  figures  of  the  common  kind,  as  ap- 
plied to  moral  truths. — As  for  instance,  "the  name  of  the  Lord 
is  a  strong  tower;  the  righteous  runneth  into  it  and  is  safe. 
The  rich  man's  wealth  is  his  strong  city,  and  as  an  high  wall 
in  his  own  conceit,"  Prov.  xviii.  10 — II.  No  man  can  be  at 
a  loss  to  understand  the  thoughts  intended  to  be  conveyed  by 
this  highly  figurative  language.  Nay,  they  are  far  more  vividly 
presented  to  the  mind  than  they  could  possibly  be,  without  the 
use  of  figure.  Every  epithet  which  denotes  securit}',  would 
be  accumulated  in  vain,  to  express  the  righteous  man's  safety, 
with  half  the  force  which  those  few  words  convey.  To  say 
he  is  secure  is  nothing;  but  to  describe  him  as  possessed  of  an 
impregnable  fortress,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord — the  Word  Je- 
♦  Burke's  Works. — Lond.  Rivington,  1815,  vol.  v.  p.  1G5. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  119 

hovah,  whither  he  betakes  himself  for  shelter,  when  danger  is 
at  hand,  with  all  the  speed  of  a  running  man,  is  to  set  before 
us  at  once,  in  the  strongest  possible  light,  the  unassailable  ob- 
ject of  his  trust;  and  at  the  same   time,  the  life  of  watchful- 
ness it  is  his  to  lead,  and  that  active  habitude  of  mind,  which 
causes  an  immediate  unloitering  recurrence  to  his  strong  hold, 
when  a  lion   is  in   his   path.     While  the   notion  is  vastly  in- 
creased by  the  contrast  of  the  avaricious  man,  with  vain  confi- 
dence,  indolently  reposing  in   the  midst  of  his  wealth,  and 
regarding  it  not  merely  as  a  confined  tower,  but  as  a  well  for- 
tified city,  through  whose  ample  dimensions  he  may  seek  his 
pastime,  when  his  lethargy  will  allow  him,  without  apprehen- 
sion or  alarm.     The  constant  use  of  figure  in  the  writings  of 
the  wise  man,  has  never  been  urged  as  an  argument  in  proof  of 
the  obscurity  of  this  portion  of  scripture,  or  as  any  reason  why 
a  mystic  sense  should  be  resorted  to  in  the  interpretation,  in 
preference  to  the  literal  import.     In  the  narrative  of  the  crea- 
tion  I  find  it  said,  that   the  Spirit  of  God  moved,  fluttered  or 
brooded,  an  expression  taken  from  the  action  of  a  mother  bird, 
tremulously  engaged  in  the  work  of  incubation,  wpon  the  faces 
of  the  waters, — the  faces  of  the  waters!     In  this  one  sentence  I 
ihave  two  figures  employed,  would  I  therefore,  be  justified  in 
saying,  that  the   narrative  of  the   creation   ought  to  be  taken 
figuratively;  or  that  in   the   sense   ordinarily  attached  to  the 
words,  "God  said,  let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light,"  we 
have  been  giving  credit  to  a  fable;  that  light  also  is  a  figure, 
and  may  denote  the  diff'usion  of  knowledge,  at  a  time  ante- 
rior to  Adam;  that  the   earth  being  tmformed,  and  hollow,  ina 
may  signify  the  uncivilized,  and  insincere  state  of  society,  be- 
fore the  era  of  authentic  history;  and  that  the  darkness,  which 
covered  the  faces  of  the  waters,  or  riotous  multitude,  a  sense 
in  which   the  word  is  elsewhere  used,  implies  no  more  than 
Isaiah  meant,  when  he  said,   "darkness  shall  cover  the  earth, 
and  gross  darkness  the  people,"  Isa.  Ix.  2}     I  believe  there  is 
scarcely  a  narrative  in  existence,  sacred,  or  profane,  in  which 
figure  is  not  employed,  are  we  therefore  at  liberty  to  torture 
all  history,  and  mould  into  such  mystic   shape  as  may  please 
us  best,  and  twist  it  into  such  reticulated  network,  as  will  most 
harmonize  with  our  notions  of  the  concatenations  of  events? 
But  hold, — what  words  are  these,  which  I  have  caught  myself 
in  using? — torture — mould — twist — net-work.     I  pray  you  to 
observe  that  they  are  mental,  not  manual  operations,  to  which 
I  refer;  and,  with  this  caution,  I  beg  you  to  understand  me 
literally.     What  I  demand  for  myself,  I  now  proceed  to  claim 
for  the  sacred  writers.     When  we  speak  of  persons,  who  are 
under  moral  or  physical  restraint,  there  can  be  no  more  com- 


120  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

mon  figure  of  speech  than  that,  which  describes  the  restrained 
jDarties  as  being  enchained,  or  in  bonds.  Thus,  when  we  speak 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  peasantry,  as  being  in  bondage  to  their 
priests,  we  are  at  once  understood  to  mean,  that  a  fearful 
tyranny,  of  a  moral  nature,  is  exercised  over  their  minds  to  a 
degree,  which  forbids  the  due  exercise  of  their  mental  facul- 
ties; and  though  we  neither  meant,  nor  were  understood  to 
affirm,  that  the  bodies  of  these  wretched  dupes  were  manacled 
with  material  fetters,  yet  no  suspicion  lurks  in  the  minds  of 
those,  to  whom  we  address  ourselves,  that  our  general  state- 
ment is  to  be  taken  figuratively,  because  we  happened  to  em- 
ploy this  figure  in  speaking.  In  like  manner,  when  Paul  speaks 
of  ''false  brethren  unawares  brought  in,  who  came  in  privily 
to  spy  out  our  liberty,  which  we  have  in  Christ  Jesus,  that 
they  might  bring  us  into  bondage,^'  Gal.  ii.  4;  no  one  ever  sup- 
posed him  to  attribute  to  these  false  brethren,  the  design  of 
casting  him  into  bonds;  and  yet  have  they  never  argued  from 
hence,  or  from  the  other  figures,  with  which  even  this  chapter 
abounds,  that  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians  is  a  figurative  book, 
which  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  understand  literally-  I  meet 
with  this  same  figure  in  Prov.  i.  8,  9,  "My  son,  hear  the  in- 
struction of  thy  Father,  and  forsake  not  the  law  of  thy  mother; 
for  they  shall  be  an  ornament  of  grace,"  or  a  graceful  wreath, 
^'unto  thy  head,  and  chains  about  thy  neck;"  a  statement  which 
was  never  understood  of  actual  captivity,  but  of  that  moral  re- 
straint, which  wise  instruction  imposeth  on  the  corruption  of 
the  fiesh,  placing,  as  it  were,  the  willing  neck  of  the  obedient 
pupil,  under  the  ornamental  yoke  of  sound  discipline,  render- 
ing his  character  attractive,  and  crowning  him  with  an  unfad- 
ing wreath  of  moral  beauty.  Asaph,  on  the  other  hand,  says  of 
the  wicked,  "pride  compasseth  them  about,  as  a  chain,  violence 
covereth  them  as  a  garment,"  Psalms  Ixxiii.  6.  Nothing  of 
moral  loveliness  is  here,  but  the  wretched  victims  of  infidelity 
clothed  with  the  garment  of  violence,  are  represented  as  the 
miserable  captives  of  the  pride  that  ruins  them.  Now  the 
occurrence  of  this  figure,  in  a  Psalm,  or  in  Proverbs,  or  in  Ga- 
latians, or  in  ordinary  conversation  or  writing,  presents  no  dif- 
ficulty; and  we  are  at  once  able  to  understand  the  meaning 
attached  to  it,  without  calling  in  the  aid  of  a  Beyman,  or  a 
Scott.  I  know  no  reason,  therefore,  why  we  should  find  it 
necessary  to  invite  their  guidance,  when  we  come  to  Rev.  xx.  2. 
I  can  understand  the  apostle  there,  as  describing  the  efiectual 
restraint  imposed  on  Satan  in  the  abyss,  during  the  period  of 
the  thousand  years,  without  considering  myself  any  more  bound 
to  depart  from  the  literal  sense,  in  my  interpretation  of  this 
jH'ediction,  than  I  am  bound  to  do  so  in  my  interpretation  of 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  121 


Psalms,  Proverbs,  and  Galatians.  But  Revelations  is  entirely 
a  figurative  book!  This  I  distinctly  deny.  It  is  not  one 
twentieth  part  as  figurative  as  the  book  of  Proverbs.  But 
though  it  is  xioi figurative,  it  is  symbolical. 

A  SYMBOL  I  would  define  to  be,  some  sensible  object,  capa- 
ble of  being  presented  to  the  eye,  with  some  definite,  well 
understood  meaning,  attached  to  it,  by  which  it  may  be  fitted 
to  speak  to  us  with  a  degree  of  precision,  with  which  no  words 
in  any  spoken  language  since  the  confusion  of  tongues  can  do. 
Symbolic  language  so  copiously  employed  in  prophecy,  is  a 
universal  language,  intelligible  to  every  kindred,  and  tongue, 
and  tribe,  and  people.     It  is  a  pictorial  language,  painting  as  it 
were  on  canvass,  with  inimitable  precision,  every  object  that 
is  to  be  presented  to  the  mind.      It  is  the  unspoken  pantomime, 
wherein  the  great  drama  of  all  prophecy  is  exhibited  by  mute 
action,  with  an  accuracy  that  defies  mistake,  when  vision  is 
perfect.     It  is  in  just  such  language  the  principal  portion  of 
the  book  of  Revelations  is  penned,  interrupted  occasionally 
with  oracular  utterances  from  the  mercy  seat,  or  the  interlocu- 
tion  of  the  Apostle   with  the  interpreting  Angel.     But  the 
lano-uage  of  symbol   is  occasionally   departed   from,  and  the 
plafnesl  language  that  can   be  used,  is  employed,  to  discourse 
to  us  of  things  to   come.     If  such   be  the  structure   of  this 
mysterious  book,  it  may  be  asked,  whence  the  numerous  mis- 
takes, into  which  men  have  fallen,  in  their  attempts  to  expound 
it?     Some  regarding  no  portion  of  it  fulfilled  yet,  and  others 
interpreting  it  as  if  it  were  all  accomplished.     I   answer  at 
once  by  attributing  all  the  error  to  their  ignorance  of  or  inat- 
tention to  symbols,  or  to  their  defect  of  vision.      If  we  are 
acquainted  with  symbolic  language,  we  shall   be  at  once  able 
to  translate   it  into  our  ordinary   dialect,  and   if  the   scenic 
representation    passes    before    our   eyes   in    the   same    order, 
wherein  it  did  before  the  eyes  of  John,  there  can  be  no  room 
for  misconception.     If  men  will  attach  meanings  to  symbols 
they  were  never  designed  to  have;  if  they  deny  the  existence 
of  symbol,  where  symbol  is  obvious;  or  if  they  misplace  the 
symbolic  scenes,  we  shall  have  great  abundance  of  error.     But 
where  can  we  obtain  a  symbolic  dictionary?     In  the  Bible 
itself.     Thus  after  the  first  vision  in  the  Apocalypse  we  are 
given  the  exposition  of  the  leading  symbols — "The  seven  stars 
are  the  angels  of  the  seven  churches;  and  the  seven  candle- 
sticks which  thou  sawest  are  the  seven  churches,"  (Rev.  i.  20;) 
while  he  who  walked  among  the  churches,  and  who  held  their 
ano-els  in   his  right  hand,  describes  himself  in  plain  and  un- 
equivocal language,  thus — "I  am  the  first  and  the  last;  I  am  he 
that  liveth  and  was  dead,  and  behold  I  am  alive  for  evermore," 
35* 


122 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 


which  character  of  himself,  together  with  the  Apostle's  note  in 
the  commencement,  that  he  was  07ie.  like  imto  the  Son  of  Ma?i, 
can  leave  no  doubt  on  the  mind,  that  it  was  Jesus,  the  great 
Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  with  the  vision  of  whom,  in  his  glory, 
he  was  thus  favoured.  All  that  remains  of  this  vision  now  is 
the  description  of  his  person,  in  which  indeed  we  meet  with 
abundant  use  of  figure  in  the  way  of  illustration — wool,  snow, 
a  flame  of  fire,  heated  brass,  the  sound  of  many  waters,  the  sun 
shining  in  its  strength,  are  all  expressly  used  as  similes,  by 
John,  to  give  some  faint  ideas  of  the  glorious  person  of  Mes- 
siah. But  are  we  to  conclude,  because  these  figures  are 
employed  by  him  to  describe  what  he  actually  saw,  although 
we  meet  with  them  also  in  other  parts  of  Scripture,  as  charac- 
teristic of  his  person,  that  his  appearance  does  not  literally 
correspond  with  what  St.  John  here  describes  it?  Now,  from 
this  example  you  will  perceive  that  while  both  symbol  and 
figure  are  employed  to  furnish  out  this  vision,  the  whole 
description  is  neither  symbolical  nor  figurative,  but  plain 
matter  of  fact,  as  Messiah's  description  of  himself,  and  his 
command  to  John,  "write  the  things  which  thou  hast  seen, 
and  the  things  which  are,  and  the  things  which  shall  be  here- 
after." What  is  symbolical  is  translated  for  us  into  plain 
language;  and  what  is  figurative  is  obvious  to  the  meanest  capa- 
city. For  the  exposition  of  every  vision,  however,  that  is 
contained  in  this  book,  we  have  not  always  the  same  helps  at 
hand;  and  yet  I  venture  to  say  they  are  within  the  reach  of 
the  patient  investigator,  and  will  reward  his  diligent  search  if 
he  be  found  relying,  not  on  his  own  expositorial  skill,  but  on 
the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  above  vision,  thus 
graciously  expounded  for  us,  appears  very  mercifully  to  have 
been  prefixed  to  the  whole  book,  as  a  kind  of  easy  lesson,  by 
which  we  may  learn  the  nature  of  symbolic  writing,  and 
acquire  a  facility  in  reading  and  comprehending  it,  before  we 
advance  in  our  enquiries,  through  the  whole  range  of  symbols. 
All  is  literally  true  of  the  churches,  of  the  angels  who  super- 
intend them,  and  of  the  Chief  Shepherd  himself,  which  is  here 
predicated  of  their  respective  symbols.  It  is  not  allowable  to 
mysticise  the  whole  description — Jesus  does  walk  among  the 
churches,  he  does  hold  their  angels  in  his  hand.  Walk! 
Hand!  Here  is  figure  or  symbol,  it  matters  not  which.  Is 
the  one  expression  more  obscure  or  unintelligible  than  what  is 
written,  Ps.  cxvii.  16,  "the  right  hand  of  the  Lord  is  exalted, 
the  right  hand  of  the  Lord  doelh  valiantly,"  or  Ps.  xviii.  35, 
"thv  right  hand  hath  holden  me  up?"  And  is  the  other  expres- 
sion more  difficult  of  solution  than  the  statement,  which  we  meet 
with  amongst  a  mass  of  Levitical  precepts,  Deut.  xxiii.   14, 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  123 

"For  the  Lord  thy  God  walketh  in  the  midst  of  thy  camp," 
or  the  words  of  Ps.  civ.  3,  "Who  walketh  upon  the  wings  of 
the  wind?"  From  all  this  you  will  perceive,  that  my  canon 
of  interpretation,  as  it  regards  any  symbolical  writing,  is, — 
"translate  the  symbols  first  into  ordinary  language,  and  then 
expound  it  as  you  would  any  other  composition."  Should  I 
be  found  guilty  of  a  departure  from  this  rule  myself,  by  omit- 
ting to  translate  symbols  where  they  exist,  or  by  attempting 
to  translate  as  a  symbol,  that  which  is  not  a  symbol,  my 
inconsistency  will  not  vitiate  the  correctness  of  the  rule.  I 
beg  this  remark  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  as  I  might 
otherwise  have  my  errors  charged  upon  all  millenarian  exposi- 
tors; as  Mr.  Gipps  inconsiderately  has  charged  the  inconsis- 
tencies of  two  anonymously  quoted  writers  of  canons  on  all, 
who  happen  to  support  their  general  views.  I  beg  that  my 
dear  brethren,  who  are  looking  with  me  for  the  personal 
advent  of  our  beloved  Redeemer,  to  reign  on  his  father  David's 
throne,  may  be  exempted  from  censure  on  account  of  any 
errors  of  exposition,  or  inconsistencies  in  the  views,  which, 
through  the  ignorance  that  is  in  me,  I  may  rashly  express. 
One  rule  of  interpretation  reasoned  on  by  Mr.  Gipps,  is,  as 
quoted  by  him,  from  whom  I  know  not,  that  "we  are  bound 
to  give  a  literal  interpretation,  where  it  is  possible,  according 
to  the  nature  of  things."  If  this  be  applied  to  symbolical 
writing,  and  be  designed  to  guide  us  in  the  discovery  of 
symbols;  and  if  by  literal  interpretation  be  meant  the  obvious 
import,  which  any  figures  that  meet  us  in  the  course  of  expo- 
sition, as  in  the  passages  already  quoted  from  Burke  and 
Cowper,  I  know  not  but  that  this  canon  may  be  very  rational 
and  just.  But  Mr.  Gipps  has  applied  it  to  predictions,  which 
are  not  symbolical,  and  perhaps  there  is  also  some  difference 
of  opinion  as  to  what  a  literal  interpretation  signifies.  I  would 
call  him  a  literal  interpreter  of  Burke's  work  on  the  French 
Revolution,  who  with  cold  philosophic  glance,  viewing  the 
flowers  of  speech  that  exhale  their  sweets  on  every  hand,  and 
rise  indigenously,  throughout  that  rich  meadow  of  rhetoric,  in 
which  it  was  his  delight  to  luxuriate,  would  content  himself 
with  expounding  the  plain  unadorned  thoughts  of  that  great 
writer. 

Now  I  proceed  to  apply  the  rule  I  have  laid  down  above,  to 
the  cases  produced  by  Mr.  Gipps.  The  first  is,  the  prediction 
of  Isaiah,  that  animals  of  opposite  tendencies,  shall  herd  and 
feed  together,  and  beasts  of  prey  become  graminivorous,  (Isa. 
xi.  6 — 8.)  This  he  triumphantly  argues,  would  not  be  accord- 
ing to  "/Ae  nature  of  things,"  which  the  author  before  cited, 
requires  to  be  the  case,  where  the  interpretation  is  literal,  but 


224  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

that  it  would  be  "an  entirely  new  nature  of  things.^'  Though 
it  would,  however,  be  quite  a  change  of  nature  to  the  lower 
animals,  were  they  to  acquire  these  properties,  yet  is  there 
something  of  a  quibble  on  the  word  nature,  for  it  may  be 
according  to  the  nature  of  things,  though  not  according  to  the 
nature  of  beasts,  that  this  change  in  their  habits  should  take 
place.  And  I  maintain  this  to  be  the  fact.  It  is  in  the  nature 
of  things  that  the  Creator  should  produce  whatever  change  he 
pleases  in  their  habits,  and  having  assured  us  it  is  his  pleasure 
that  this  change  shall  talce  place,  we  reckon  assuredly  that  it 
must  needs  literally  come  to  pass.  This  view  of  the  matter 
brings  abundant  satisfaction  to  my  mind,  but  let  us  refer  to  the 
prophec}'  itself,  concerning  these  beasts.  Neither  figure  nor 
symbol  can  I  find  throughout  it. — Not  a  note  of  similitude  do 
we  meet  with. — If  I  look  to  the  context  indeed,  I  find  two 
symbols,  and  but  two,  which  are  employed,  by  universal  con- 
sent, to  sliadow  out  the  Redeemer. — This  contrivance  seems 
to  be  resorted  to,  to  avoid  naming  him,  and  yet  to  mark  him 
out,  with  a  precision  inimitable,  as  identical  at  once,  with  the 
Man  of  Sorrows,  and  with  the  future  King  of  Zion, — The 
opening  of  the  chapter,  presents  him  before  us  as  a  rod,  or 
humble  tzvig,  shooting  out  of  the  decayed  stump  of  Jesse,  a 
Branch  or  Nazarene,  nxj,  becoming  fruitful,  as  it  ariseth  out  of 
that  ancient  root. — Though  scripture  elsewhere  afforded  me  no 
other  information,  than  what  the  prophecy  itself  affords,  I 
should  at  once  perceive  from  the  actions  and  character  ascribed 
to  this  twig,  that  it  must  symbolize  some  mighty  personage, 
eminent  for  moral  purity,  and  llie  righteous  exei-cise  of  regal 
power  over  the  earth,  hereafter  to  arise  from  the  reduced  family 
of  David's  sire.  The  Spirit  of  Jehovah,  of  wisdom,  understand- 
ing, counsel,  might,  knowledge,  and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord, 
could  not,  in  the  nature  of  things,  abide  on  a  mere  vegetable 
cutting.  No  offset  from  any  tree  of  the  forest,  however 
vigorous,  could  be  endowed,  unless  it  were  first  metamorphosed 
into  a  rational  being,  of  which  no  hint  is  given  us,  with  the 
intelligent  properties,  and  judicial  prerogatives,  and  regal 
power,  and  animal  organs  of  sight,  and  hearing,  and  speech, 
and  pulmonary  action,  here  ascribed  to  the  Branch. — The 
natural  actions  of  a  just  Prince,  enforcing  the  rights  of  the 
poor,  and  vindicating  the  meek  of  the  earth;  nay  more,  the 
supernatural  acts  of  divine  power,  smiting  the  earth  with  the 
rod,  or  rather,  blast  of  his  mouth,  and  slaying  the  wicked  one 
with  the  breath  of  his  lips,  are  all  attributed  to  this  lordly 
sucker  from  Jesse's  stump. — A  symbol  therefore,  that  sucker 
must  manifestly  be,  and  yet  all  that  is  affirmed  concerning  it, 
is  literally  true  of  him,  whom  that  symbol  represents. — Yet, 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  125 

in  the  description  which  is  given  of  it,  not  a  figure  is  employed, 
till  in  the  fifth  verse  we  meet  with  these  words,  righteousiiess 
shall  be  the  girdle  of  his  loins;  and  faithfulness  the  girdle 
OF  his  reins.  Can  the  occurrence  of  such  a  figure  by  which  the 
moral  properties  of  his  reign  are  illustrated  by  the  cincture, 
which,  binding  up  the  flowing  vesture  of  the  Prince,  prevents 
him  from  being  impeded  in  discharging  the  active  duties  of 
office,  offer  any  impediment  to  the  literal  exposition  of  this 
plain  and  blessed  prophecy?  Now  it  is  in  direct  connection 
with  these  words,  yea,  and  immediately  consecutive  to  them, 
that  the  prophecy  concerning  the  lower  animals,  as  dwelling 
anew  together,  in  all  the  peace  and  harmony  of  Eden,  occurs, 
without  the  indication  of  any  figure  or  symbol,  that  I  can 
discern.  It  is  introduced  simply  as  another  feature  of  that 
glorious  era,  in  which  Jesse's  Branch  shall  reign,  in  righteous- 
ness.— Just  as  it  is  said  that  righteousness  shall  be  the  girdle  of 
his  loins  so  is  it  said  that  the  wolf  and  the  lamb,  the  leopard 
and  the  kid,  the  calf  and  the  young  lion  and  the  fatling  shall 
dwell  and  repose  together,  and  be  led  by  a  little  child;  that  the 
cow  and  the  she  bear  shall  amicably  brouse  upon  the  same 
pasture,  while  their  young  ones  slumber  together  on  the  same 
bank;  and  that  the  lion,  carnivorous  as  he  is  now,  shall  then 
be  satisfied  with  straw,  like  the  ox.  Besides  we  know  that 
the  digestive  organs  will,  without  any  miracle,  adapt  them- 
selves to  the  food  that  is  habitually  provided  for  them.  Such 
a  state  of  things,  we  verily  believe  existed  once, — namely, 
before  the  fall  of  man  and  the  curse — and  it  may,  therefore, 
exist  again.  "Every  kind  of  beasts  and  of  birds,  and  of  ser- 
pents and  of  sea  monsters  is  tamed,  and  hath  been  tamed  of 
mankind,"  (James  iii.  7.)  If  it  be  in  the  nature  of  things, 
that  man  can  counteract  the  predial  propensities,  which  his 
own  original  offence  introduced  amongst  the  beasts  of  the  field 
and  the  birds  of  the  air;  it  must  surely  be  within  the  nature  of 
things,  not  to  speak  of  the  assurances  of  prophecy  on  the  sub- 
ject, that  he  who  originally  framed  them  the  loving  and  peace- 
able dependants  of  his  vice-gerent,  in  this  lower  world,  should 
again  render  them  submissive  to  him 

Whom  once,  as  delegate  of  God  on  caiih, 
They  feared,  and  as  his  perfect  image,  loved. 

Not  so  marvellous  would  be  the  exercise  of  that  taming  power, 
which  should  restore  them  to  their  original  inoffensive  charac- 
ter, as  is  the  daily  miracle,  which  is  wrought,  when  the  evil 
tongue  of  the  regenerated  sinner,  which  wo  ma?i  can  tame,  by 
grace  is  tamed;  and  the  poison  of  asps,  which  was  as  constantly 
generated  as  its  saliva,  ceases  to  be  secreted  within  the  glands 
that  supplied  it. 


126  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

But  we  have  hitherto  reasoned  upon  this  subject,  as  if 
Scripture  afforded  us  no  further  information,  yet  are  we 
expressly  taught  by  St.  Paul,  not  indeed  without  figure,  but 
still  with  no  more  of  figure  than  on  other  subjects  he  employs, 
that  "the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature  waiteth  for  the 
manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,  (for  the  creature  was  made 
subject  to  vanity,  not  willingly,  but  by  reason  of  him  who  hath 
subjected  the  same,)  in  hope  that  the  creature  itself  also  shall 
be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  For  we  know  that  the  whole 
creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now, 
and  not  only  they  but  ourselves  also,  who  have  the  first  fruits 
of  the  Spirit,  even  we  ourselves  groan  within  ourselves,  wait- 
ing for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  the  body." 
(Rom.  viii.  19-23.)  I  will  satisfy  myself  with  the  mere 
quotation  of  this  most  important  passage;  but,  as  ingenious 
attempts  have  been  made  to  extract  from  it  any  other  mean- 
ing than  that,  which  is  its  obvious  and  natural  import,  I  send 
you  a  copy  of  a  letter  which  may,  in  some  measure,  serve  for 
its  rescue  from  perversion.* 

1  have  alread}^  observed,  that  a  second  symbol  occurs  in  the 
context  of  this  prediction,  concerning  the  future  condition  of 
the  lower  animals,  and  that  by  universal  consent,  it  shadows 
out  the  Redeemer.  The  first  represented  him  as  an  humble 
twig,  out-sprouting  from  Jesse's  root,  to  whom  all  those  fea- 
tures are  attributed  as  universal  King,  which  we  have  just 
noticed.  The  second  describes  him  as  the  root  from  which 
Jesse  sprang.  The  one  exhibits  him  as  the  Word  made  flesh,  the 
natural  descendant  of  a  favoured  family;  the  other,  as  himself, 
the  progenitor,  because  the  Creator  of  him  from  whom,  in 
common  with  that  family  of  royal  ancestry,  though  of  de- 
crowned greatness,  he  had  himself  as  man  derived  his  man- 
hood. The  spirit  of  Prophecy,  by  this  artificial  alliance  of 
symbols,  in  themselves,  apparently  incongruous,  did  herein 
contrive  to  set  before  the  churcii,  ere  Jesus'  birth,  the  wondrous 
mystery  of  God  manifest  i?i  the  flesh,  the  mighty  and  adorable 
Theanlhrope,  who  has  appropriated  to  himself,  all  that  by  those 
symbols  was  expressed,  saying,  *'I  am  the  root  and  offspring 
of  David,"  (Rev.  xxii.  16.)  Turn  now  to  the  statement,  in 
which  this  symbol  is  embodied — a?id  in  that  day,  when  the 
fruit-bearing  scion  from  Jesse's  root  shall  exercise  his  righteous 
rule,  slay  the  wicked  one,  and  vindicate  the  meek;  when  the 
lower  animals  shall  be  at  peace;  when  none  shall  hurt  or 
destroy  upon  the  holy  mountain,  and  the  earth  shall  be  full  of 
the  knowledge  of  Jehovah,  as  a  personal  God,  manifested 
*  See  Appendix. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  X27 

before  the  eyes  of  men;  *'In  that  day,  there  shall  be  the  root 
of  Jesse,  which  shall  stand  for  an  ensign  of  the  people;  of  him 
shall   the   Gentiles  oracularly  enquire,  and   his  resting  place 
shall  be  glorious.^'     When  he  attains  to  all  this  dignity  and 
renown,  who  was  once  manifested  as  a  mere  Branch,  he  shall 
also  be  manifested  as  Jesse's  root — the  Almighty  Creator  of 
all  men.     If  his  coming  forth,  as  a  rod,  out  of  Jesse's  stump, 
denoted   his  actual    manifestation    to   Israel,   as   the   suffering 
Messiah;  then,  by  every  rule  of  right  interpretation,  when  as 
Jesse's  root,  he  shall  become  the  gathering  point  of  the  peo- 
ples, according  to  that  which  was  written  of  Shiloh,  he  must 
needs  be  manifested  after  the  same  manner  to  the  Gentiles,  as 
the  object  of  their  visible  worship  and  willing  obedience,  from 
whom   they  may  immediately  obtain  oracular  responses,  and 
the  glory  of  whose  resting  place  their  very  eyes  may  discern. 
We  have  before  referred  to  the  remainder  of  this  chapter,  as 
expressing    the   Lord's   purpose   in   that  day,  to  recover  the 
remnant  of  Israel  from  all  nations,  to  put  an  end  to  the  envy 
between  the  two  houses,  vanquish  their  enemies  before  them, 
and  make  a  highway  for  their  return  from  Assyria  in  as  mar- 
vellous a  manner  as  he  did  before,  when  they  came  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt. — Thus,  literally,  am   I  compelled  to  take  all 
that  in  this  chapter  is  written  of  the  branch  and  root  of  Jesse, 
of  the  lower  animals,  and  of  Israel's  future  restoration.     It 
requires  no  common  ingenuity  to  construe  all  these  statements 
into  figure;  and  his  imagination  must  be  very  active,  who  can 
give  any  thing  approaching  to  a  consistent  interpretation  of 
every  verse,  upon  the  principle,  that  it  is  not  designed  to  con- 
vey the   ideas,  which   are  naturally  suggested  by  its  perusal. 
But  if  the  reasoning  be  correct,  which  denies  a  literal  inter- 
pretation to  what  is  predicted  of  the  lower  animals,  I  know 
not  in  what  way  we  should  meet  a  Jew,  who  taking  up  Mr. 
Gipps'  weapons,  should  argue,  that   it  is  too  much  to  reason 
from  the  symbolical  expressions  of  Jesse's  branch  and  Jesse's 
root,  that  Messiah  was  to   be  both  God  and  Man;  that  while 
the  former  denotes   his  lineage,  the  latter  only  respects  the 
succour  he  shall  yield  to  Jesse's  family  at  an  after  period;  or 
who,  denying  that  Messiah  is  represented  by  either  expression, 
should  contrive  to  place  some  ingenious  comment  of  his  own 
upon  the  place,  and  plead  his  right  to  regard  it  in  his  own  way, 
upon  the  ground  of  highly  figurative  language. — Yet,  if  there 
be  a  plain  prophecy  in  Scripture,  it  is  this  very  chapter,  and  if 
we  have  no  right  to  interpret  it   literally,  there   is   nothing 
literal  in  Scripture. 

But  we  are  told  that,  according  to  the  same  rule,  we  ought  to 
interpret  Isaiah  Iv.  12,   13,  literally  also.     Let  us  therefore 


228  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

examine  this  place. — "Ye  shall  go  out  with  joy,  and  be  led 
forth  with  peace;  the  mountains  and  the  hills  shall  break  forth 
before  you  into  singing,  and  all  the  trees  of  the  field  shall  clap 
their  hands.  Instead  of  the  thorn  shall  come  up  the  fir  tree, 
and  instead  of  the  brier  shall  come  up  the  myrtle  tree,  and  it 
shall  be  to  the  Lord  for  a  name,  for  an  everlasting  sign,  that 
shall  not  be  cut  off." — Here  I  find  nothing  of  symbol;  and 
making  due  allowance  for  obvious  figure,  I  am  not  ashamed  to 
own,  that  I  am  forced  to  give  this  statement  a  literal  interpre- 
tation. Hills  and  mountains  never  possessed  any  more  than 
they  do  now,  vocal  organs;  nor  were  trees  ever  furnished  any 
more  than  they  are  at  present,  with  hands.  Neither  do  I  find 
in  any  part  of  Scripture,  the  slightest  indication,  that  it  is  the 
Lord's  will  at  any  future  period,  to  transform  hills  and  trees 
into  organic  matter,  or  to  endow  them  with  animal  functions. 
I  at  once  perceive,  therefore,  that  the  prophet  has  so  far  re- 
sorted to  figure,  and  to  figure  of  a  very  expressive  and  ener- 
getic kind. — The  sombre  hue  of  mountains,  clothed  with 
diluvial  relics,  in  mourning,  as  it  were,  for  the  pristine  beauty, 
with  which  they  came  forth  from  the  Creator's  hand,  rejoicing 
in  the  verdure  of  perpetual  spring,  shall  be  exchanged  for  the 
more  becoming  robe  of  festivity,  when  the  world,  at  large, 
has  laid  aside  the  worn-out  garments  of  the  curse,  and  has 
joined  in  the  general  joy  of  Israel's  recovery,  which  shall  be 
as  life  from  the  dead. — The  leafy  honours  of  the  forest  are  now 
as  nothing  to  what  shall  then  be  exhibited,  and  they  shall  then 
express  their  glad  sense  of  that  refreshing  season,  as  audibly, 
as  if  they  were  furnished  with  hands.  Their  boughs  shall 
answer  every  breeze  of  heaven  that  is  borne  onward  with  the 
echo  of  Israel's  joy.  Thorns  and  briers,  which  were  indebted 
for  their  propagation  to  the  sin  of  m.an,  shall  be  supplanted, 
when  the  year  of  the  redeemed  is  come,  by  the  fir-tree  and 
the  myrtle. — Such  is  the  natural  and  literal  sense  of  the  Pro- 
phet, and  let  our  lovers  of  figure,  whose  keen  sense  of  the 
unnatural  can  convert  it  at  once,  into  what  best  pleases  their 
imagination  or  caprice,  regard  it  in  what  light  they  may;  and 
let  them  pronounce  it  accomplished  by  the  meagre  return  of  a 
local  and  persecuted  body,  across  an  ungenial  and  dreary 
desert  from  Babylon  if  they  will;  but  for  my  own  part,  I  dare 
not  thus  treat  the  word  of  the  faithful  and  true  witness,  and 
must  express  my  full  agreement  with  what  Houbigant  has 
said. 

"Hsec  non  convenire  in  reditum  Babylonc  Judoeorum,  videbit 
quisquis  perleget  historiam  sacram,  imo  quisquis  hunc  ipsum 
locum  attente  considerabit.  Nam  pollicetur  Deus,  quae  mira- 
cula  reditum   Judaeorum    comitabuntur,    eorum    miraculorum 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  J29 

vestigia  nunquatn  deletum  iri;  quae  accommodarl  non  possunl, 
nisi  ad  ultimum  reditum  Judaeorum." 

"In  Isaiah  xxxv.  9,"  writes  Mr.  Gipps,  <<it  is  said,  "No 
lion  shall  be  there,  nor  any  ravenous  beast  shall  go  up  thereon, 
it  shall  not  be  found  there."  This  is  evidently  connected  with 
the  coming,  of  Christ,  foretold  in  ver.  4;  in  the  same  way  as 
Isa.  xi.  6-8,  was  connected  with  his  coming,  as  foretold  in  ver. 
1  of  that  chapter.  According  to  their  own  rule,  they  (mille- 
narians)  are  bound  to  give  a  literal  interpretation  of  ver.  9, 
and  to  understand  it  of  real  animals.  They  discard,  however, 
their  own  rule  in  this  case;  and  take  these  expressions,  not  in 
a  literal  but  figurative  sense;  although  the  literal  meaning  is 
possible  in  this  passage,  according  to  the  nature  of  things,  and 
is  not  so  in  Isa.  xi.  6-8" — I  am  not  one  of  those  Millenarians 
who  discard  the  rule  in  this  place.  It  is  an  important  admis- 
sion, which  is  made  above,  that  this  prediction  is  connected 
with  the  coming  of  Christ,  foretold  in  ver.  4. — But  the  coming 
of  Christ,  which  is  foretold,  is  evidently  his  future  coming;  for 
at  the  first  coming,  the  wilderness  and  the  desert  did  not 
acquire  the  promised  fertility,  blossom  or  flourish  luxuriantly 
as  the  rose;  nor  did  streams  of  water  gush  forth  to  irrigate  their 
arid  soil;  Lebanon,  and  Carmel,  and  Sharon,  and  the  well 
watered  plain  of  Jordan  were  not  illuminated  with  the  glory  of 
Jehovah,  nor  beheld  the  excellency,  or  rather  the  majesty  of  our 
God,  for  they  were  only  trod  by  the  weary  feet  of  the  man  of 
sorrows,  in  whom  there  was  no  recognised  comeliness;  though 
some  blind,  deaf,  dumb,  and  lame  persons  were  then  delivered 
— yet  the  blind,  the  deaf,  the  dumb,  the  lame,  remained  as  dis- 
tinct afflicted  classes  still;  the  haunts  of  dragons  were  not 
improved;  and  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  did  not  return  to 
Zion, — To  return  there,  they  must  have  been  its  former  occu- 
pants,— the  Gentiles  never  were  occupants,  either  of  the  Jeru- 
salem which  now  is,  or  of  that  which  is  above,  and  is  the 
mother  of  us  all. — No  restoration  of  Israelites  took  place,  and 
the  whole  prophecy,  the  analysis  of  which  we  have  thus 
negatively  given,  remains  to  be  fulfilled.  That  portion  of  it, 
to  which  we  have  been  referred,  has  inconsiderately  been 
introduced  into  the  inquiry  before  us,  from  the  errors  into 
which  our  translators  have  more  especially  fallen,  owing  to  an 
undue  deference  to  the  authority  of  the  Jews,  who  absurdly 
divided  the  eighth  verse  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence,  as  noticed 
by  Lowth.  His  version  of  the  ninth  and  tenth  verses  I  will 
now  quote,  along  with  Horsley's  of  the  eighth. — 

8.  And  a  causey,  and  a  way  shall  be  there, 

And  it  shall  be  called  the  way  of  the  Holy  One. 
The  unclean  shall  not  pass  over  it, 
VOL.  III. — 36 


130  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

But  He  (that  is,  the  Holy  One)  shall  be  with  them,  walking  in  the  way. 
And  tools  shall  not  go  astray.* 

9.  No  lion  shall  be  there; 

Nor  shall  the  Tyrant  of  the  beasts  come  up  thither. 
Neither  shall  he  be  found  there; 
But  the  redeemed  shall  walk  in  it. 

10.  Yea,  the  ransomed  of  Jehovah  shall  return. 
They  shall  come  to  Zion  with  triumph; 

And  perpetual  gladness  shall  crown  their  heads, 
Joy  and  gladness  shall  they  obtain, 
And  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  awa)^ 

I  find  no  difficulty  whatever  in  taking  all  this  in  a  literal 
sense.  I  have  no  doubt  whatever,  that  it  ought  to  be  so  taken. 
"We  may  spiritualize  it  if  we  will,  and  I  have  no  objection  to 
accommodation,  wlien  it  is  avowed  to  be  accommodation.  I  be- 
lieve we  are  fully  justified  in  doing  so.  There  is  an  intimate 
analog}'  between  all  the  divine  proceedings,  whether  of  mercy 
or  of  judgment;  and  these  analogies  the  inspiring  Spirit  con- 
tinually delighteth  to  express  in  type,  in  symbol,  in  figure,  in 
literal  statement.  Israel's  future  restoration  is  to  be,  as  in  the 
day  of  Egypt,  which  is  at  once  the  type  of  her  approaching  de- 
liverance from  the  nations,  under  whose  yoke  she  has  passed, 
of  the  salvation  of  the  elect,  of  their  rescue  from  Satan,  and 
of  the  final  escape  of  the  persecuted  Church  herself,  from  the 
gripe  of  Antichrist.  What  is  said  of  the  one,  must  therefore  be 
true  of  the  other,  either  in  the  way  of  type,  or  of  antitype. 
That  they  who  are  now  enjoying  the  present  blessing,  and  the 
future  hope  of  the  Church,  should  seize  on  so  beautiful  a  pas- 
sage as  this,  as  if  it  were  wholly  applicable  to  themselves,  does 
not  much  surprise  me.  But  it  is  undoubtedly  of  Israel,  not- 
withstanding that  these  things  are  spoken  here.  A  miracu- 
lous pathway  shall  be  provided  for  Israel's  return,  (compare 
Isa.  xi.  16.)  which  shall  be  called  the  pathway  of  the  Holy 
One;  since  He  shall  be  himself  the  guide  of  the  happy  travel- 
lers, who  shall  express  the  joyous  feelings  of  their  souls  in  the 
language  of  praise,  as  they  pass  along  it  to  Zion.  No  Lion, 
literally,  shall  im.pede  their  path;  and  as  to  the  Tyrant  of  the 
Beasts,  he  shall  be  unable  to  molest  them,  being  himself  se- 
cured in  the  bottomless  pit.  Our  common  version  gave  a 
colour,  I  admit,  to  the  idea  of  mere  figure  being  resorted  to 
here,  by  the  Prophet.  The  pathivay  of  holiness  might  readily 
be  supposed  to   denote   the  path  of  the  just,  or  the   holiness 

*  The  eighth  verse  runs  thus  in  the  Breeches  Bible  of  1589.  A7id  there 
shall  be  a  path  and  a  way,  and  the  way  shall  be  called  holy,  the  polluted  shall  not 
pass  by  it;  for  he  shall  be  with  them  and  loal/ce  in  the  luay,  amd  the  foolcs  shall 
nut  eire.  A  marginal  nole  on  the  wt)r(ls  he  shall  be  with  them,  thus  interprets 
them;  "God  shal  leade  and  guide  them,  alluding  to  the  going  forth  of  Egypt." 
— The  same  reading  is  retained,  in  the  margin  of  Barker  and  Bill's  Bible  of 
1G30,  "He  shall  be  with  them." 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  131 

of  their  walk  in  life,  which  it  would  be  impossible,  in  the  na- 
ture of  things,  for  ravenous  or  irrational  creatures  to  tread. 
Yet,  even  under  this  impression,  there  might  have  lurked  some 
suspicion  of  a  right  conception  of  the  passage;  for,  though  the 
path  of  the  just  shineth  more  and  more,  unto  the  perfect  day, 
yet  is  it  untrue  to  affirm  concerning  them,  that  they  are  unas- 
sailed  in  their  pilgrimage,  by  wild  passions,  fierce  temptations 
from  tlie  world,  or  the  fiery  darts  of  that  evil  one,  who  is  here 
emblematically  named  the  Tyrant  of  the  Beasts.  This  name 
I  apprehend,  is  conferred  on  him  in  allusion  to  the  fact  that  he 
is  the  influencing  director  of  the  wild  symbolic  Beast,  to  whom 
he  giveth  his  power,  his  throne,  and  great  authority,  Rev.  xiii.  2. 
Millenarians  are  next  charged,  but  falsely,  with  a  violation 
of  their  own  rule,  in  the  interpretation  of  Rev.  xx.  4,  5, first, 
because  they  take  souls  there,  to  denote  material  bodies,  "Upon 
their  own  rule,"  Mr.  Gipps  writes,  "they  are  bound  to  inter- 
pret this,  as  foretelling  a  resurrection  of  the  souls,  because  such 
a  resurrection  is  possible,  according  to  tlie  nature  of  things,  as 
described  in  various  passages  of  Scripture,  (Eph.  ii.  5,  6,  and 
V.  14,  and  Col.  ii.  13,  &c.")  Could  Mr.  Gipps  have  been  seri- 
ous, when  he  wrote  this?  or  could  he  have  been  ignorant  of 
the  fact,  that  in  the  grave,  historical  page  of  Scripture,  without 
the  smallest  indication  of  figure,  this  same  word  souls,  meets 
us  perpetually,  as  synonymous  with  the  wov(\  persons!  Not  to 
multiply  quotations,  I  would  ask,  were  the  three  thousaiid  souls, 
who  were  added  to  the  Church,  on  the  occasion  of  Peter's  dis- 
course, at  the  day  of  Pentecost,  disembodied  Spirits,  Acts  ii. 
41?  or  the  two  hundred,  three  score,  and  six  souls,  who  were 
wrecked,  with  Paul,  off  Melita,  were  they  also  incorporeal 
beings,  ship's  company,  centurion,  and  soldiers,  all  ghosts?  It 
xnwsijirst  be  proved,  that  such  passages  as  these  are  figurative 
before  the  charge,  vvhicli  is  brought  against  Millenarians  for 
their  interpretation  of  Rev.  xx.  4,  can  justly  lie  at  their  door. 
To  proceed  to  the  next  argument,  ^^Secondbj,  If  we  take  the 
literal  meaning  of  the  designation  of  those  who  reign  rvith 
Christ,  as  signified  in  ver.  4,  it  would  include  only  a  very  small 
number  of  the  saints.  This,  therefore,  would  prove  that  ver. 
4,  cannot  be  intended  to  foretell  the  reigning  with  Christ  after 
his  second  coming,  because  that  will  include  all  the  saints;  and 
consequently  that  the  Millenarian  view  of  the  first  resurrec- 
tion, cannot  be  the  true  one."  I  have  replied  to  this  by  anti- 
cipation, in  my  first  letter,  and  shewn,  from  the  structure  of 
the  Greek,  and  from  the  analysis  of  the  whole  passage,  that 
this  statement  arises  from  an  entire  misconception  of  what  is 
written.  I  only  quote  it  now,  lest  I  might  be  thought  to  evade 
its  force  on  the  one  hand;  and,  on  the  other,  that  I  may  point 


132  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

out,  by  the  way,  the  fallacy  of  Mr.  Gipps'  unprecedented  ex- 
position of  the  place.  According  to  him,  those  who  reign  with 
Christ,  are  not  persons  who  have  died,  or  have  been  mar- 
tyred, and  are  risen  again  from  the  grave,  after  experiencing 
greater  longevity  than  even  Melchisedech,  but  persons  who 
are  to  be  martyred,  and  are  to  die.  With  him  "the  living  and 
reigning  of  the  persons  there  described,  foretells  their  spiritual 
life,  and  reigning  over  the  fear  of  man,  and  the  errors  and 
seductions  of  the  beasts,  over  sin,  and  the  world,  &c."  The 
reignifig  ivith  Christ,  then  is  only  over  "the  fear  of  man,"  rather 
a  curious  subject,  for  the  exercise  of  monarchical  authority; 
and  over  "the  errors  and  seductions  of  the  beasts," — what  ac- 
tive service  these  can  render  their  rulers,  or  how  tliey  are  to 
express  their  homage,  my  knowledge  of  figure  does  not  ena- 
ble me  to  point  out; — "over  sin,"  to  which  the  same  remark 
applies; — and  over  "the  world,"  this  were  a  more  tangible 
platform  of  empire,  were  the  earth  itself,  with  its  inhabitants, 
included  in  the  expression,  which  it  is  not,  as  used  here  by  our 
author;  while  the  "^c. "  if  we  were  at  liberty  to  interpret  it 
largely,  might  include  the  universe,  as  it  ought.  But  has  it 
been  overlooked  that  the  reignifig  with  Christ  obviously  implies 
a  participation  with  him  in  his  supreme  authority,  and  is  that 
authority  only  concerned  in  the  suppression  of  evil  propensi- 
ties, in  certain  of  the  redeemed,  at  a  particular  epoch  of  the 
world?  Alas,  to  what  subterfuges  are  men  reduced,  who  are 
unwilling  to  submit  their  judgments  to  the  written  word. 

I  proceed  now  to  follow  Mr.  Gipps  in  his  endeavour  to 
ascertain,  in  accordance  with  certain  rules,  which  he  lays  down, 
"in  what  sense  the  Holy  Ghost  uses  the  term  resurrection,  in 
Rev.  XX.  4,  5.  His  rules  are  important.  He  would  decide 
between  a  literal  and  figurative  interpretation  by  considering, 
Jirst,  the  general  character  of  the  book — secondly,  the  character 
of  the  context,  especially  the  introduction  of  the  passage — 
thirdly,  the  harmony  of  the  interpretation  with  other  unequi- 
vocal passages  of  Scripture. 

First,  the  character  of  the  book.  In  the  case  before  us  this 
is  pronouneed  to  he  figurative.  I  have  already  shewn  it  to  be 
symbolical.  He  refers  for  proof  of  its  figurative  character  to 
Rev.  vi.  12,  because  some  writers,  I  suppose,  owing  to  fanciful 
analogies  they  have  thought  proper  to  adopt,  have  determined 
this  prophecy  to  have  been  fulfilled  already,  which,  however, 
I  take  the  liberty  to  deny.  Yet  fulfilled  or  unfulfilled,  there 
certainly  is  figure  here.  The  figures  are  expressed  and  unde- 
niable, "the  Sun  became  black  as  sack  cloth  of  hair,  and  the 
moon  became  as  blood,  and  the  stars  of  heaven  fell  unto  the 
earth,  even  as  a  fig  tree  casteth  her  untimely  figs,  when  she  is 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  X33 

shaken  by  a  mighty  wind."  The  astronomical  signs  I  under- 
stand to  be  symbols,  the  things  to  which  they  are  likened,^^?/res. 
Again,  we  are  referred  to  the  witnesses,  Rev.  xi.  4-12.  It  is 
taken  for  granted,  that  their  dead  bodies,  graves,  stajiding  oti  their 
feet,  SfC.  are  figurative  expressions,  because  some  writers  have 
so  regarded  them.  I  am  not  one  of  those,  who  so  view  them. 
I  believe  that  all  this  will  literally  come  to  pass — that  the 
Lord's  real  children,  when  this  dispensation  of  testimony  is 
brought  to  its  close,  will  have  to  pass  through  martyrdom  to 
their  crown.  But  though  these  expressions  were  indeed  figu- 
rative, they  would  not  prove  the  book  to  be  so.  I  find  as  many 
figures  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  to  which  we  are  referred,  as 
a  literal  book.  I  there  find  Christ  set  forth  as  the  Light  of 
the  world,  as  the  brazen  serpent,  as  bread,  a  door,  a  Shepherd,  a 
Vitie,  &c.  And  yet  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  is  justly  considered 
a  literal  book. 

Secondly,  "the  introducing  context." — This  is  pronounced 
to  be  "not  literal,  but  figurative;  John  saw  in  vision,  "an  angel 
comedown  from  heaven,  having  a  key,"  and  "a  great  chain  in 
his  hand — lay  hold  on  a  great  dragon — bind  him — cast  him  into 
the  bottomless  pit,  and  shut  him  up — set  a  seal  upon  him." 
John  surely  had  this  vision;  he  saw  these  things  literally  be- 
fore his  eyes; — The  question  is,  what  literal  facts  were  they 
designed  to  symbolize?  I  believe  there  were  never  two 
opinions  on  the  subject. — But  even  so,  the  book  explains  them. 
— On  the  word  chain,  we  have  already  had  some  observations. 
If  its  import  be  plain  in  other  places,  and  in  ordinary  compo- 
sitions, 1  take  it  for  granted,  that  it  likewise  is  plain  enough 
here.  The  dragon,  who  is  forcibly  arrested,  and  placed  in 
hold,  is  unequivocally  declared  to  be  the  Devil. — This  is  surely 
literal,  if  any  thing  be  literal. — The  key  in  the  angel's  hand,  is 
a  symbol  that  meets  us  in  the  vision  of  Jesus,  as  the  Universal 
Bishop,  in  the  first  chapter.  "I  have  the  keys  of  Hades,  and 
of  death;"  and  again,  in  the  epistle  to  Philadelphia,  these  things, 
saith  he  "that  is  holy,  he  that  is  true,  he  that  hath  the  key  of 
David,  he  that  openeth,  and  no  man  shutteth;  and  shutteth, 
and  no  man  openeth,"  Rev.  iii.  7;  where  we  have  not  only  the 
symbol,  but  its  import,  the  power  of  opening  and  of  shutting. 
But  there  is  a  seal  also  used,  to  secure  the  old  serpent.  Resort 
was  had  to  this  device,  to  secure  the  sepulchre,  and  we  can 
therefore  be  at  no  loss  to  understand  its  import  here.  He  then 
who  is  deterred  at  the  threshold  by  symbols,  such  as  these; 
and  deems  from  hence,  the  whole  prophecy  figurative,  for  the 
exposition  of  which,  he  may  tax  his  own  ingenuity,  might  as 
well  close  the  book.  The  symbols  are  all  self-evident — The 
great  culprit  is  to  be  restrained — he  is  therefore,  said  to  be 
36* 


J34  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

chaified — The  bottomless  pit  is  to  receive  him — it  must  there- 
fore be  opened,  and  a  key  is  provided — Escape  is  to  be  render- 
ed impossible — the  prison,  therefore,  is  not  only  to  be  locked, 
but  retributive  justice  affixes  a  seal  which  cannot  be  broken; 
unlike  that  vain  thing,  which  Satan's  agents  aforetime  attached 
to  the  tomb  of  Jesus.  Such  are  the  appropriate  and  intelligi- 
ble symbols,  which  constitute  the  vision.  The  design  of  the 
incarceration,  "that  he  should  deceive  the  nations  no  more, 
till  the  thousand  years  should  be  fulfilled;"  and  the  term  of 
his  confinement,  a  ihousarid  years;  and  his  subsequent  enlarge- 
ment, ''after  that,  he  must  be  loosed  a  little  season;"  are  all 
expressed  in  common  language.  This  running  commentary 
on  the  vision,  is  no  more  figurative  than  what  I  am  now  writ- 
ing. It  is  called,  however  "the  introductory  context."  I 
deem  it  rather  a  separate  vision,  the  true  introduction  to  which 
consists  of  the  words  following,  And  I  saxv. — It  is  certainly 
related  to  other  visions,  for  of  those  who  were  seen  by  John,  it 
is  recorded  "they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  the  thousand 
years,"  during  ivhich  Satan  was  to  remain  bound;  yet  it  is  in- 
dependenlly  exhibited  and  expounded.  Whether  we  regard, 
however,  the  true  introduction,  or  the  allied  vision  which  pre- 
cedes it,  there  is  nothing  which  requires  us  to  consider  it  as  a 
highly  wrought  and  figurative  delineation  of  an  unexpressed 
somewhat,  for  the  discovery  of  which,  we  must  either  draw 
largely  on  our  fancy,  or  employ  no  common  share  of  logical 
ingenuity. — One  great  defect  in  this  argument  has  been  over- 
looked ioy  Mr.  Gipps. — It  proves  too  much  for  his  own 
scheme. — If  this  introductory  context  be  all  figure,  bidding 
defiance  to  all  literal  interpretation;  and  if  the  succeeding 
vision,  or  prophecy  of  the  first  resurrection,  must  needs  par- 
take of  the  same  unintelligible  character;  then  must  the  con- 
cluding context,  to  which  all  this  is  introductory,  be  nothing 
else  than  figure  also — the  transactions,  which  it  describes  as 
taking  place  before  the  great  white  throne,  must  relate  to  any 
thing  rather  than  the  general  judgment — and  the  committal  of 
all,  who  were  not  written  in  the  Book  of  Life,  to  the  lake  of 
fire,  must  be  the  description  only  of  some  national  or  ecclesi- 
astical convulsion,  revolution,  or — reformal.io7i  for  aught  I  know. 
— In  these  days  of  lebuke  and  blasphemy  and  liberalism,  revo- 
lution, by  a  new  stride,  which  the  march  of  mind  has  taken 
into  the  region  of  figure,  has  come  to  signify  reformation. 

Thirdlij,  the  harmony  of  the  interpretation  with  other  un- 
equivocal passages  of  scripture. — Under  this  head,  Mr.  Gipps 
at  once  determines,  that  the  first  resurrection  cannot  be  taken 
"in  amalerial  sense,  as  referring  to  the  resurrection  of  the 
bodies  of  the  saints,"  as  such  an  interpretation  would  not  bar- 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  I35 

monize  with  the  import  he  has  attached  to  those  numerous 
plain  passages  of  Scripture,  that  have  already  passed  under  our 
review. — I  might  satisfy  myself  with  the  expression  of  a  con- 
trary conclusion,  after  what  I  have  already  written  on  the  sub- 
ject, were  it  not  that  I  deem  it  expedient  to  examine  it  a  little 
more  minutely. — 1st,  I  would  observe,  concerning  the  vision 
of  the  first  resurrection,  that  there  was  but  o;?e  symbol  exhi- 
bited to  the  apostle's  view,  and  that  was  thrones;  the  unnamed 
sitters  upon  the  thrones  are  not  even  described  symbolically; 
with  them  are  associated  m  rule,  the  martyrs  of  all  ages,  and 
the  faithful  confessors  of  Christ,  who  rejected  the  delusions 
and  opposed  the  authority  of  the  beast. — 2ndly,  The  remaining 
portion  of  the  prediction,  in  perfect  analogy  with  the  running 
commentary  on  "the  introductory  context,"  consists  of  plain 
unfigured  prophecy.  The  absence  indeed  of  symbol  is  so  ob- 
vious throughout  it,  that  those  who  would  fain  transform  it 
into  figure,  invariably  have  recourse,  like  Mr.  Gipps,  to  the 
introductory  context  for  the  discovery  of  symbol — If  there  be 
no  symbol  here,  there  is  symbol  there,  and  this  becomes  the 
basis  of  their  allegation,  that  ''all,  all  is  figure!"  A  throne  is 
so  obvious  a  symbol,  no  obscurity  is  attached  to  it;  of  this, 
therefore,  we  hear  little,  and  that  the  rather,  as  it  would  be 
somewhat  dangerous  to  their  own  literal  interpretation  of  the 
succeeding  vision  of  the  ichile  throne,  were  they  to  involve  this 
symbol  in  the  common  cloud  of  darkness,  in  which  they  en- 
deavour to  envelope  the  great  mass  of  symbolic  prophecy. — 
I  say,  the  great  mass,  for  with  singular  inconsistency,  symbol 
is  no  obstruction  in  their  vvay,  when  they  come  to  expound 
the  vision  of  the  scarlet  whore,  as  she  rides  the  ten-horned 
beast;  or  to  interpret  any  prophecy  which  can  furnish  them 
with  an  argument  against  the  Papacy. — 3dly,  In  this  place  I 
would  point  out  the  first  express  harmony  which  there  exists 
between  one  verse  in  this  prediction,  and  a  plain,  unequivocal 
statement  in  the  book  of  Proverbs. — It  is  written,  "but  the 
rest  of  the  dead  lived  not  again  till  the  thousand  years  were 
finished,"  ver.  5.  I  now  turn  to  Prov.  xxi.  16,  and  I  there 
find  the  corresponding  statement,  "the  man  that  wandereth  out 
of  the  way  of  understanding,  shall  remain  in  the  congregation  of 
the  dead."  Heb.  the  Rephaim,  those  who  are  to  greet  the  mys- 
tic king  of  Assyria  on  his  descent  to  Hades,  Isa.  xiv.  9,  and 
who  are  in  prison,  iuKHKM,  safe  keeping,  1  Pet.  iii.  19,  reserved 
in  chains  unto  judgment,  2  Pet.  ii.  4.  Their  remaining  in  the 
congregation  of  the  dead  would  be,  in  itself, — and  irrespect- 
ively of  the  punitive  evils  which  they  may  experience  in  that 
condition — no  greater  privation  than  that,  which  befalls  the 
whole  mass  of  separate  spirits,  were  their  abode  there,  not  to 


J36  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

be  protracted  beyond  that  of  tlie  righteous. — But  protracted 
beyond  that  of  the  righteous,  their  abode  shall  be,  and  their  con- 
dition there,  precisely  similar  to  that  of  Satan,  as  appears  from 
the  two  places  in  Peter,  to  which  I  have  referred,  where  we 
have  the  same  expressions  employed  exactly  which  are  used 
in  Rev.  xx. — for  it  is  not  only  said  of  Satan,  he  shall  he  chained, 
but  that  he  is  to  be  loosed  out  of  his  own  prison,  or  place  of 
security,  ( wtjk <pvx«x»c stt/Tiu — ver.  7) — I  observe,  in  passing,  that 
the  imprisoning  of  the  messengers,  or  angels,  who  preserved 
not  their  principality,  and  are  reserved  in  chains,  are  expres- 
sions which  never  led  to  the  idea,  that  Peter's  epistles  are  all 
figurative,  though  their  occurrence  in  this  prophecy  has  led  to 
so  much  argument  on  the  subject. — I  now  would  direct  atten- 
tion to  the  symbol  of  the  thrones,  and  those  who  sat  on  them. 
— I  find  this  admirably  harmonizes  with  Hanna's  prayer. — 
"He  raiseth  up  the  poor  out  of  the  dust,  and  lifteth  up  the  beg- 
gar from  the  dunghill,  to  set  them  among  princes  and  to  make 
them  inherit  the  throne  of  glory,'"  1  Sam.  ii.  8.  These  poor 
beggars,  pensioners  continually  dependant  upon  the  divine 
bounty,  can  be  no  other  than  the  poor  in  spirit;  who  have  dis- 
covered the  humiliating  fact,  that,  let  their  present  circum- 
stances be  what  they  may,  they  are  miserable,  and  poor,  and 
blind,  and  naked — Possessing  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ, 
they  possess  all  things  in  promise,  and  reversion,  poor  though 
they  be;  and  the  throne  they  inherit,  is  the  thione  of  the  Mes- 
siah, (Rev.  iii.  21,)  under  the  whole  heaven,  and  tlierefore  over 
the  whole  earth,  (Dan.  vii.  27.)  This  will  appear  further,  froni 
considering  the  reason  assigned  by  the  inspiring  Spirit  in  con- 
firmation of  this,  their  exaltation,  "For  the  pillars  of  the  earth 
are  the  Lord's  and  he  hath  set  the  world  upon  them,"  (vei*. 
S.)  This  reference  to  the  creative  fiat  can  have  no  other  mean- 
ing than  this,  that  he  who  has  established  the  earth,  possesses 
the  power  and  the  right  to  govern,  by  whom  he  may;  to  give 
the  government  thereof, — to  the  poor,  and  to  the  beggar.  He, 
himself,  vindicates  his  own  proceedings  in  providence,  by  an 
appeal  to  the  same  argument,  (Jobxxxviii.  4 — 7.)  The  throne 
of  glory,  being  the  throne  of  the  Messiah,  must  have  its  locali- 
ty, in  Jerusalem,  according  to  Ps.  ii.  6,  and  also,  to  that  which 
is  written  (Jer.  iii.  17,)  "At  that  time  they  shall  call  Jerusa- 
lem the  //wowe  of  Jehovah;  and  all  the  nations  shall  be  gathered 
unto  it,  to  the  name  of  Jehovah,  to  Jerusalem,  neither  shall 
they  walk  any  more  after  the  imagination  of  their  own  evil 
heart."  Jerusalem  is  also  so  named  in  tiie  jjenitential  confes- 
sion, hereafter  to  be  used.  "Do  not  abhor  us  for  thy  name's 
sake;  do  not  disgrace  the //iroweo/' /A?/ e-Zor^/,"  (Jer.  xiv.  21.)  Fur- 
ther it  is  said,  ^*a glorious  high  throne  from  the  beginning,  is  the 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  137 

place  of  our  sanctuary.  (Jer.  xvii.  12.)  It  may  be  said,  that 
all  these  expressions  relate  to  the  theocracy,  under  which  the 
Jews  were  once  placed.  But  not  to  refer  again,  to  the  prophe- 
cies concerning  Messiah's  right  to,  and  future  possession  of 
David's  throne,  I  observe  that  the  circumstances  of  Israel, 
were  all  typical  of  a  future  state  of  things,  when  the  throne  of 
Jesus,  being  established  in  Jerusalem,  Jehovah  shall  be  king 
over  all  the  earth.  What  was  once  adumbrated  by  the  glory 
in  the  sanctuary,  shall  be  then  realized,  when  the  Son  of  Man 
shall  sit  on  the  throne  of  his  glory.  I  find  a  statement  in 
every  respect  parallel  to  that  of  Hanna's,  in  (Ps.  cxiii.)  that 
splendid  Hallel,  which  shall  be  sung,  when  Jehovah's  name 
shall  be  blessed  from  that  time,  even  for  evermore;  when  his 
name  shall  be  praised,  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going 
down  of  the  same — when  he  shall  be  high  above  all  nations, 
and  his  glory  above  the  heavens.  Condescending  to  behold 
the  things  that  are  in  heaven,  and  in  earth,  he  shall  then  "raise 
the  poor  out  of  the  dust,  and  lift  the  needy  out  of  the  dung- 
hill, that  he  may  set  him  with  princes,  even  with  the  princes 
of  his  people."  His  people  are  the  Jews,  and  who  can  these 
princes  of  the  Jews  be,  amongst  whom,  the  poor  and  needy  are 
to  take  their  co-equal  stations,  except  the  Patriarchs,  the  Pro- 
phets, the  Apostles — those  twelve  who  are  to  sit  on  thrones, 
judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel?  But  the  last  words  of  the 
psalm,  which  follow  those  just  quoted,  pin  down  their  exalta- 
tion of  the  poor  and  needy,  to  the  locality  of  Canaan,  and  the 
period  of  Israel's  blessedness.  He  makelh  the  barren  wo- 
man to  keep  house  (or  rather  cause  it  to  be  inhabited),  and  to  be 
a  joyful  mother  of  children.  Hallelujah.  Poor  Judali  has  long 
since  learned,  and  that  most  justly,  to  view  herself,  as  the  barren 
woman,  hereafter  to  be  blessed  with  a  most  abundant  progeny. 
The  Targum  thus  interprets  the  place;  '*who  makes  the  con- 
gregation of  Israel,  vi'hich  is  like  to  a  barren  woman,  that 
sitteth  sorrowful,  to  dwell  with  the  man  of  her  house,  full 
of  multitudes."  Long  repudiated  for  her  incontinence,  and 
spiritual  fornication,  she  shall  be  restored  to  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  all  her  conjugal  rights,  by  her  Maker,  who  is  himself 
her  husband.  So  are  we  taught,  not  by  the  Targum,  but  by 
that  infallible  expositor,  who  has  penned  his  own  mind,  by  his 
well  instructed  scribe  Hosea,  as  at  large  set  forth  in  the  book 
of  his  prophecy;  and  who  has  thus  further  expressed  it  by  the 
mouth  of  his  servant  Isaiah. — "Sing,  0  barren,  thou  that  didst 
not  bear;  break  forth  into  singing,  and  cry  aloud,  thou  that  didst 
not  travail  with  child;  for  more  are  the  children  of  the  desolate, 
than  the  children  of  the  married  wife,"  (or  Gentile  Church, 
by  which  her  place  was  supplied  for  a  season,)  "saith  the 


138 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 


Lord.  Enlarge  the  place  of  thy  tent,  and  let  them  stretch 
forth  the  curtains  of  thy  habitations;  spare  not,  lengthen  thy 
cords,  and  strengthen  thy  stakes;  for  thou  shall  break  forth 
("sobolesces,"  Houbigant,  "burst  forth  with  increase,"  Lowth) 
on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left;  and  thy  seed  shall  mherit  the 
Gefililes,^  and  make  the  desolate  cities  to  be  inhabited.  Fear 
not;  for  thou  shalt  not  be  ashamed;  neither  be  thou  confounded 
for  thou  shalt  not  be  put  to  shame,  for  thou  shalt  forget  the 
shame  of  thy  youth,  (her  incontinence)  and  shalt  not  remember 
the  reproach  of  thy  widowhood  (her  punishment)  any  more. 
For  thy  Maker  is  thine  husband;  the  Lord  of  Hosts  is  his 
name;  and  thy  Redeemer,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  The  God 
of  the  whole  earth,  shall  he  be  called.  For  the  Lord  hath 
called  thee  as  a  woman  forsaken,  and  grieved  in  spirit,  (how 
like  unto  Hannah,  her  appointed  type,)  and  a  wife  of  youth, 
when  thou  wast  refused,  saith  tliy  God.  For  a  small  moment 
have  I  forsaken  thee,  but  with  great  mercies  will  I  gather 
thee,"  (Isa.  liv.  1-7.)  In  the  conclusion  of  that  memorable 
recapitulation  of  the  Lord's  goodness,  and  wonderful  works, 
for  the  grateful  confession  and  acknowledgment  whereof  hy 
the  children  of  men,  the  inspiring  spirit  expresses  such  re- 
iterated desire,  (Ps.  cvii.  40-43,)  the  downfall  of  earthly 
princes,  and  the  exaltation  of  the  poor,  in  their  room,  is  pre- 
dicted. "He  pourelh  contempt  upon  princes,  and  causeth 
them  to  wander  in  the  wild  place,  where  there  is  no  way. 
Yet,  setteth  he  the  poor  on  high,  after  affliction,  and  maketh 
Him,  (Messiah,  personal,  and  mystical,)  families  like  a  flock. 
The  righteous  shall  see  it,  and  rejoice;  and  all  iniquity  shall 
stop  her  mouth."  This  hath  not  all  iniquity  done  yet. — She 
is  more  vociferous,  and  foul-mouthed  than  ever. — Soon,  how- 
ever, shall  she  be  silent  in  darkness. — She  shall  go  into  the 
trackless  waste  with  the  confederate  princes  of  Antichrist, 
when  the  righteous,  with  joy,  shall  behold  the  triumph,  and 
participate  in  the  glory  of  the  exalted  One;  when  he  shall 
succeed  to  the  crown  of  all  the  earth,  whose  princes  are  laid 
prostrate  in  the  dust;  and  when  "the  final  restoration  from  the 
dispersion,"  shall  take  place,  as  a  "Thanksgiving,"  for  which, 
as  Horsley  rightly  judged,  this  Psalm  was  composed.  "Whoso 
is  wise,  and  will  observe  these  things,  even  they  shall  under- 
stand the  loving  kindness  of  the  Lord."  May  we  be  given 
grace  to  ponder  them  aright;  and  never  be  unmindful  of  the 
kindred  promise  addressed  to  us,  in  tlie  opening  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse, (Rev.  i.  3.)     Recurring  now  to  Hannah's  prayer,  I  find 

*  "Here  the  person  addressed  is  clearly  distinguished,  from  the  Gentiles, 
which  shewed  that  the  Hebrew  Church,  not  the  Church  of  the  Gentiles  is 
intended." — Horsley  in  loco. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  I39 

the  exaltation  of  the  poor  similarly  connected  with  the  over- 
throw of  the  rebel  rout  and  the  establishment  of  Messiah's 
kingdom. — "He  will  keep  the  feet  of  his  Holy  One  and  the 
wicked  shall  be  silent  in  darkness;  for  by  strength  no  man 
shall  prevail.  The  adversaries  of  the  Lord  shall  be  broken  to 
pieces;  out  of  heaven  shall  he  thunder  upon  them. — Jehovah 
shall  judge  the  ends  of  the  earth;  and  he  shall  give  strength 
unto  his  King,  and  exalt  the  horn  of  his  Messiah." — "The 
king,  of  whom  Hannah  speaks,"  says  D.  Kimchi,  "is  the 
Messiah" — He  could  be  no  other. — There  was  at  this  time  no 
king  in  Israel. — My  task  would  never  end,  were  I  to  produce 
all  the  proofs  which  are  at  hand,  to  establish  the  general 
harmony  of  Scripture,  with  Rev.  xx.  4-9.  I  must  therefore 
content  myself  with  a  reference  to  those  places  which  Mr. 
Gipps  has  mentioned. 

1.  Zech.  xiv.  1-11.  We  have  here  a  description  of  the 
DAY  OP  THE  Lord.  It  is  to  be  marked  by  the  destruction  of 
the  assembled  nations,  who  went  forth  against  Jerusalem;  by 
Jehovah's  going  forth  against  them;  by  his  taking  his  station 
on  Mount  Olivet,  which  shall  then  divide  in  twain;  by  the 
coming  of  all  his  saints  along  with  him;  by  his  acquisition  of 
the  undisputed  sovereignty  of  earth;  and  by  the  safe  re-occu- 
pation of  Jerusalem  by  its  rightful  possessors. — Mr.  Gipps 
imagined  that  the  earth  would  immediately  be  burnt  up  on  the 
appearing  of  Christ,  and  he  therefore  concluded,_that  this  going 
forth  of  the  Lord,  and  this  coming  of  Messiah,  must  either  be 
a  figurative  coming,  or  else,  his  first  coming  as  embracing  its 
results.  If  the  earth  was  to  be  burned  up  at  the  moment  of 
his  coming  in  glory,  it  would  be  quite  impossible  that  these 
events  could  then  take  place  on  its  surface. — But  let  it  be  even 
granted,  that  2  Pet.  iii.  contains  no  one  symbolical  allusion, 
yet,  does  it  not  contain  a  single  syllable  to  justify  the  idea  that 
the  earth  and  the  heavens  should  be  burned  up  at  the  very 
moment  of  his  coming.  The  conflagration,  indeed,  is  identi- 
fied with  ihe  day  of  the  Lord;  but  so  also  is  this  very  chapter 
of  Zechariah;  and  if  it  be  plain,  from  this  latter  place,  that 
that  day  is  connected  with  a  series  of  occurrences,  which  are 
to  take  place  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  leading  to  the  safe 
inhabitation  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  periodical  celebration  of  the 
feast  of  Tabernacles  by  all  the  families  of  the  earth;  then  does 
it  needs  follow,  that  the  day  of  the  Lord  denoteth  a  long 
season,  and  not  a  day  of  four  and  twenty  hours  only  in  dura- 
tion. Again,  Mr.  Gipps  imagined,  incorrectly,  as  we  have  seen, 
that  all  the  ungodly  will  be  destroyed  when  "the  Lord  Jesus 
shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  in  fiaming  fire,"  2  Thess.  i.  7; 
and  he  therefore  argued,  that  tiiis  must  be  a  different  coming 


140 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 


of  Messiah  which  is  predicted,  because  "ungodly  persons 
remain  after  this  going  forth  of  the  Lord,  in  open  enmity  and 
rebellion  against  him  and  his  people,  and  subsequently  fight 
against  Jerusalem,  ver.  12-15,  IS,  19."  The  two  latter  verses 
indeed,  prove,  that  ungodly  persons  will  remain  after  this 
going  forth  of  the  Lord,  because  their  punishment  will  be 
inflicted  for  their  refusal  to  worship  the  King,  the  Lord  of 
Hosts;  but  not  so  the  former,  for  while  it  follows  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  going  forth  of  Jehovah,  it  is  but  a  more  detailed 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  he  shall  smite  the  gathered 
nations,  when  he  shall  come,  attended  by  his  saints.  To  these 
considerations  he  added,  what  he  called,  the  absurdity  of  sup- 
posing that  Christ  would  thus  fight  in  person, — an  exceedingly 
bad  mode  of  reasoning,  as  applied  to  revelation; — and  that 
nations  of  ungodly  men,  in  their  present  bodies,  would  fight 
against  him. — Had  he  weighed  the  statement,  "then  shall 
Jehovah  go  forth  and  fight  against  those  nations,  as  when  he 
fought  in  the  day  of  battle,'^  the  day  of  Egypt,  the  grand  type 
of  this  great  crisis  would  have  been  recalled  to  his  recollection 
— he  would  have  remembered  the  precedent  afibrded  for  this 
madness,  by  the  impious  precipitation  with  which  the  enemies 
then  rushed  against  the  bosses  of  the  Almighty's  buckler, 
when,  from  the  dread  pillar  of  fire  he  frowned  upon  their 
daring  hosts. — *'Moses  said  unto  the  people,  in  that  day,  Fear 
ye  not,  stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the  Jehovah,  which 
he  will  show  to  you  to  day;  for  the  Egyptians  whom  ye  have 
seen  to  day,  ye  shall  see  them  again  no  more  for  ever.  Je- 
hovah shall  fight  for  you,  and  ye  shall  hold  your  peace." 
(Exod.  xiv.  13,  14.)  "And  it  came  to  pass,  that  in  the 
morning  watch,  Jehovah  looked  unto  the  host  of  the  Egyptians, 
through  the  pillar  of  fire  and  of  the  cloud,  and  troubled  the 
host  of  the  Egyptians;  and  took  off  their  chariot  wheels  that 
they  drave  them  heavily;  so  that  the  Egyptians  said,  let  us  flee 
from  the  face  of  Israel,  for  Jehovah  fighteth  for  them  against 
the  Egyptians,"  (ver.  23,  24.)  Lastly,  Mr.  Gipps  took  it 
for  granted,  that  the  word  day,  night,  evening,  light,  routers, 
in  ver.  6,  7,  8,  were  all  figures,  and  therefore  judged  himself 
at  liberty,  upon  the  principle  combated  alread}'^  in  the  com- 
mencement of  this  letter,  to  pronounce  the  whole  prophecy  all 
figure,  that  is  OjUite  unintelligible. — And,  in  truth,  this  chapter 
must  be  wholly  unintelligible  to  those,  who  deny  the  doctrine 
of  the  first  resurrection,  and  the  Saviour's  future  reign  on 
earth.  But  I  deny  that  the  expressions  above  referred  to,  are 
figures. — Following  our  own  version,  the  intermediate  period 
between  the  thick-darkness  of  night,  and  the  full  blaze  of 
meridian  day,  corresponding  precisely  with  the  morning  watch, 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  141 

when  Jehovah  looked  forth  on  the  Egyptians,  is  pointed  out 
as  the  period,  when  the  Messiah  shall  break  in  on  the  fancied 
security  of  the  assembled  nations.  However,  archbishop  New- 
come  renders  it  thus, 

6.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day, 
There  shall  not  be  a  bright  light  and"  darkness; 

7.  But  there  shall  be  one  day. 
This  is  known  unto  Jehovah. 

There  shall  not  be  day,  and  there  shall  not  be  night, 

But  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that,  at  eventide,  there  shall  be  light. 

Fry,  who  follows  Newcombe,  says,  "The  meaning  I  take  to 
be  simply  this;  at  the  time  predicted,  as  far  as  regards  the 
holy  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house,  there  shall  no  longer  be 
the  ordinary  vicissitudes  of  day  and  night."  "There  shall  not 
be  brightening  light,  neither  shall  there  be  condeiising  darkness," 
but  all  shall  be  one  entire  day;  not  day  and  night  as  now — or 
as  then,  perhaps,  to  the  rest  of  the  earth — but  at  the  time 
of  even,  light  shall  appear  to  shine,  even  the  glory  of  Jehovah. 
This  is  parallel  to  Isaiah,  Ix."*  Of  the  literal  character  of  the 
waters,  I  entertain  no  doubt. 

II.  Luke  XX.  34-36.  "The  children  of  this  age  marry,  and 
are  given  in  marriage;  but  they  which  shall  be  accounted 
worthy  to  obtain  that  age,  and  the  resurrection  that  out  of  dead 
ones,  Tn;  ctvcts-rcca-io);  Tn;  IX.  viKfoiv  [when  ihey  shaW  rise,  Mark]  neither 
marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage;  neither  can  they  die  any 
more,  for  they  are  la-sLyyihot  equal  unto  the  angels,  (angel-like, 
Campbell)  {ce;a.yyi\oi  Matthcw  and  Mark,  as  angels)  and  are  the 
children  of  God,  being  the  children  of  the  resurrection."  Mat- 
thew, who  omitteth  in  his  record  of  this  discourse,  what  is 
said  above  of  those,  who  are  worthy  to  obtain  that  age,  and 
the  resurrection  out  of  the  dead  ones,  here  addeth,  "but  as 
touching  the  resurrection  of  the  dead;  have  you  not  read  that 
which  was  spoken  unto  you,  by  God,  saying,  &c."  Instead 
of  the  substantive  ava<rTA<ri;,  in  this  sentence,  the  Evangelists, 
Mark  and  Luke,  substitute  the  verb  iynpovT^it,  "as  touching  the 
dead  that  they  rise. — Now  that  the  dead  «?-e  raised;  even  Moses 
shewed  you  in  the  bush,  when  he  calleth  the  Lord,  the  God 
of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob."  All 
the  dead,  of  whom  the  Lord  is  God,  must  be  raised,  for  this  is 
involved  in  the  very  mystery  of  the  name  of  God  D^nVx-  In 
this  Title  is  included  the  necessity  of  bringing  forth  life  out  of 
death,  of  reviving  those  whom  he  hath  slain.  "See  now  that 
I,  even  I,  am  He,  and  there  is  no  God  with  me,"  literally 
"standing  by  me,"  that  is,  united  with  me,  or  giving  me  aid, 
"I  kill,  and  1  make  alive;  I  wound,  and  I  heal,"  (Deut.  xxxii. 

*  Fry,  on  Second  Advent,  vol.  ii.  p.  122. 
VOL.  III. — 37 


142  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

39.)  "The  Lord  killeth,  and  maketh  alive,"  (1  Sam.  ii.  6.) 
Therefore  was  it,  that  being  instructed  in  the  mystery  of  this 
name,  the  king  rent  his  clothes,  on  the  Syrian's  application  to 
him  to  heal  Naaman  of  his  leprosy,  saying,  "am  I  God  to  kill 
and  to  make  alive,  that  this  man  doth  send  unto  me  to  recover 
a  man  of  his  leprosy?"  (2  Kings  v.  7.)  He  who  killeth,  and 
maketh  alive,  is  the  God  of  all  men,  and  therefore  shall  all 
men  be  raised,  but  every  man  in  his  own  order.  This  truth 
is  involved  in  the  very  name  by  which  the  Lord  revealed  him- 
self, in  the  bush,  for  he  is  not  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac, 
and  of  Jacob  only;  and  when  Christ  therefore,  appealed  to  this 
name,  in  proof  of  the  resurrection  out  of  dead  ones,  he  was  of 
necessity,  led  to  suggest  the  doctrine  of  the  general  resurrec- 
tion. So  obviously  however,  was  the  resurrection  out  of  the 
dead  ones,  limited  to  the  angel-like  just,  the  co-ordinate  mes- 
sengers, the  children  of  God,  in  the  commencement  of  his 
reply  to  the  Sadducees,  as  above  given,  that  even  Campbell's 
note  on  those  who  are  worthy  to  share  it,  attempts  thus 
strangely  to  account  for  it.  "It  may  be  remarked  in  passing, 
that  our  Lord,  agreeably  to  the  Jewish  style  of  that  period,  calls 
that  only  the  resurrection,  which  is  a  resurrection  to  glory." 
The  shifts  to  which  men  resort,  are  very  surprising.  Truly 
derogatory  to  our  Lord,  would  it  have  been,  had  he  in  com- 
pliance with  any  erring  form  of  speech,  lent  the  countenance 
of  his  authority,  even  by  implication,  to  any  false  impression, 
which  existed  in  the  popular  mind.  In  combating  one  error, 
he  could  never  have  insinuated  his  agreement  with  another. 
But  the  Jewish  style,  in  speaking  of  the  resurrection  at  that 
period,  was,  in  fact,  far  more  evangelical  than  Mr.  CampbelTs; 
and  they  understood  the  character  of  it  better,  for  they  fully 
believed  that  the  patriarchs  in  particular,  and  the  righteous  in 
general,  would  arise  from  the  dead,  and  be  put  in  possession  of 
Canaan.*  This  they  regarded  as  the  resurrection  out  of  dead 
ones;  and  when  our  Lord  adopted  this  phraseology,  he  sanc- 
tioned also  their  doctrine.  They  gathered  from  the  promises 
to  Abraham,  and  his  seed,  that  the  friend  of  God,  and  all  his 
righteous  descendants,  would  arise  from  the  dead  in  the  days 
of  the  Messiah,  and  inherit  Canaan.  So  strong  was  this  im- 
pression on  their  minds,  and  so  just  was  their  reasoning  on  the 
subject,  that  Mede  contends  our  Lord's  argument  in  favour  of 
the  resurrection,  from  Jehovah's  title  as  the  God  of  Abraham, 
of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  can  only  be  understood  when  it  is 
regarded  as  involving  a  direct  reference  to  the  covenant  esta- 
blished with  each  of  those  Patriarchs,  to  put  them  in  personal 
*  See  T.  Bab.  Sanhedrin,  fol.  90-2. 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  143 

possession  of  the  land  of  promise.*  And  it  surely  was  thus 
that  he  revealed  himself  to  them,  as  the  God,  who  maketh 
alive.  Now,  I  do  put  it  to  the  common  sense  of  the  Church, 
whether  our  Lord  would  have  employed  language  so  liable  to 
misconstruction,  when  addressing  such  an  audience,  if  he  had 
not  designed  to  corroborate  the  judgment  of  the  Jewish  Doc- 
tors? While  he  spends  all  his  shafts  upon  the  Sadducees  he 
not  only  directs  none  upon  the  subject,  against  the  Pharisees, 
but  tacitly,  and  by  positive  statements,  allows  it  to  be  under- 
stood, that  he  is  the  supporter  of  their  views.  Not  a  single 
sentence  has  been  left  on  record,  as  uttered  by  him,  in  repre- 
hension of  that  view  of  the  resurrection,  which,  by  the 
Pharisees  was  entertained.  He  appears  always  as  their  advo- 
cate in  this  matter;  as  did  his  Apostles  after  him.  Very 
memorable  was  the  course  taken  before  the  council,  by  the 
great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  "When  Paul  perceived  that 
the  one  part  were  Sadducees,  and  the  other  Pharisees,  he  cried 
out  in  the  counsel,  Men  and  brethren,  I  am  a  Pharisee,  the  son 
of  a  Pharisee,  of  the  hope  and  resurrection  of  dead  ones,  I  am 
called  in  question,"  Acts  xxiii.  f>.  The  resurrection  of  dead  ones, 
(not  Tcevvufim  of  the  dead,)  in  the  Pharasaic  sense,  was  secured 
by,  as  the  example  was  also  given  in,  the  resurrection  of  our 
Lord,  from  the  Sepulchre.  Whether,  therefore,  I  consider 
the  argument  of  the  Lord;  the  opinions  of  the  Jews,  concern- 
ing the  resurrection  of  the  Patriarchs,  and  of  the  just  out  of 
the  dead,  to  which  his  sanction  was  given;  or  the  very  language 
he  employed,  the  resurrection  that  out  of  dead  ones;  I  am  com- 
pelled to  believe  that  the  righteous  shall  arise  out  of  the  mass 
of  the  dead,  in  order  to  enjoy  that  age,  which  is  peculiarly  the 
age  or  dispensation  or  millennial  reign  of  Messiah.  A  portion 
of  this  argument  would  indeed  be  vitiated,  were  Mr.  Gipps' 
statement  borne  out,  "although  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,  in 
Luke  XX.  35,  refers,  I  conceive,  to  the  resurrection  of  blessed- 
ness of  the  Saints,  yet,  as  the  same  discourse  is  recorded  in 
Matt.  xxii.  29-32,  and  as  the  same  resurrection,  is  there 
noticed,  (ver.  31,)  as  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  without  the 
preposition  «*,  we  could  not,  I  conceive,  infer  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  intended  any  stress  to  be  laid  upon  the  use  of  the  pre- 
position, in  Luke  xx.  35,  or  it  would  certainly  have  occurred 
in  Matt.  xxii.  31,  also."  From  the  analysis  I  have  above 
given  of  both  evangelists,  it  appears,  that  the  supplementary 
words  given  by  Matthew,  relate  to  another  resurrection  alto- 
gether, or  rather  to  the  resurrection  in  general.  The  fact  of  a 
resurrection  of  all  men,  being  established,  it  follows  at  once, 
that  the  particular  resurrection  of  the  just  to  the  enjoyment  of 
*  See  Mede's  Letter  to  Dr.  Twiss;  Works,  Book  iv.  Let.  xliii. 


144  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

that  age,  will  take  place.  This  at  once  accounts  for  the  words 
we  meet  with  in  St.  Matthew,  and  which  are  omitted  by  StT. 
Luke. 

III.  It  has  been  likewise  attempted  to  evade  the  force  of  the 
preposition, «»,  of,  or  out  of,  as  it  occurs  in  Acts  iv.  2.  "And 
as  they  spake  unto  the  people,  the  priests,  and  the  captain  of 
the  temple,  and  the  Sadducees,  came  upon  them,  being  grieved 
that  they  taught  the  people,  and  preached  through  Jesus  the 
resurrection  that  out  of  dead  ones,"  rnv  av^s-Taa-iv  mv  (n  vixpmv.  This,  it 
is  said,  does  not  relate  "to  the  resurrection  of  believers  only. 
For  1st.  Jesus  will  raise  the  ungodly  as  well  as  the  godly" 
(John  v.  28,  29).  But  here  the  question  is  not  what  he  will  do, 
but  wiiat  the  apostle  said  he  would  do;  and  2nd.  The  resur- 
rection which  the  apostle  preached,  appears  to  be  connected 
with  the  destruction  of  the  ungodly:  compare  chapter  iii.  23. 
We  proceed  to  show,  from  the  preceding  discourse,  that  what 
they  spake  unto  the  people  was  in  perfect  accordance  with  the 
Millenarian  view;  that  they  did  not  speak  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  ungodly  or  of  their  ultimate  destruction,  and  that  they 
did  speak  of  the  first  resurrection.  What  the  apostles,  Peter 
and  John,  thus  spake  related  to  the  cure  of  the  lame  man,  who 
sat  for  alms  at  the  Beautiful  gate  of  the  temple.  This  miracle 
of  healing,  they  ascribed  to  the  Prince  of  Life,  whom  God 
had  raised  from  the  dead,  nycfiviKviKpcey,  out  of  dead  ones;  and  then 
ascribing  the  crucifixion  of  the  Messiah  to  the  ignorance  of  the 
multitude  and  of  their  rulers,  thus  exhorted  them,  chapter 
iii.  19. 

19.  "Repent  ye,  therefore,  and  be  converted  that  your  sins 
may  be  blotted  out,  that  the  times  of  reanimation  may  come 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord;  20,  and  that  he  may  send  Jesus 
Christ,  Trponixiipta-jutvov  the  before  designed  for  you,  whom  the 
heaven  inust  receive  [contain]  until  the  seasons  of  re-establish- 
ing of  all  things,  which  God  hath  spoken  of  by  the  mouth  of 
all  his  holy  prophets  from  the  age.  22,  For  Moses  truly  said 
unto  the  Fathers — A  prophet  shall  the  Lord  your  God,  (umarna-u) 
raise  up  unto  you,  (sjc  tw  a/s^^av,)  out  of  the  brethren,  like  unto  me; 
him  shall  ye  hear  in  all  things,  whatsoever  he  shall  say  unto 
you.  23,  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  every  soul,  which 
will  not  hear  that  prophet,  shall  be  exterminated  out  of  the 
people  [I'^oMBpiuSxcmai  ix.  tou  Ktou).  24,  Yea,  and  all  the  prophets 
from  Samuel,  and  those  that  follow  after,  as  many  as  have 
spoken,  have  likewise  foretold  of  the  days,  those,  {th;  njuepat 
ixuTo.;.)  25,  Ye  are  the  children  of  the  prophets  and  of  the 
covenant,  which  God  confirmed  to  our  fathers,  saying  unto 
Abraham — And  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  kindreds  of  the  earth 
be  blessed.     26,  God,  having  raised  up,  (avxa-THTac,)  his  own  Son 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  145 

Jesus,  hath  sent  him  to  you  first  blessing  you,  in  the  turning 
back  each  of  you  from  your  iniquities." 

The  resurrection,  that  out  of  dead  ones,  referred  to  in  this 
searching  exhortation,  is  identified  with  the  seasons  of  reani- 
mation,  and  re-establishing   of  all  things,   when   that  Jesus, 
whom  heaven  must  retain  till  then,  shall  return,  according  to 
the  covenant  made  with  Abraham,  to  bless  all  the  families, 
UccTft^t)    OP   THE    EARTH.      All    the   prophcts    have    spoken 
of  the  general  resurrection.     He  must,  therefore,  come  before 
the  general  resurrection  to  re-establish  all  things,  in  the  times 
of  re-animation.     His  future  coming  when  all  that  the  Pro- 
phets have  spoken  shall  be  accomplished,  will  be  thus  marked 
by  a  resurrection— an  *va4t/^K— but  it  will  be  the  resurrection, 
that,  out  of  dead  ones.     He  was  first  raised  up  as  a  Prophet 
like  unto  Moses,  to  bless  the  Jews  by  turning  each  of  them 
from  their  iniquities.     His  being  thus  raised  up  as  a  Prophet, 
it  would  seem,  was  allusive  to  his  exaltation  as  such  to  the 
right  hand,  as  well  as  to  his  selection  from  the  brethren  and 
appointment  to  the  office.     His  testimony,  however,  as  a  Pro. 
phet,  was  not  to  receive  entire  credence,  and  they  who  wilfully 
rejected  it  were  to  be  exterminated,  as  history  tells  us  they 
most  miserably  were.     But  the  multitude  was  assured  on  this 
occasion,  that  though  in  ignorance  they  had  not  embraced  his 
instructions,  when  personally  addressed  to  them,  the  exter- 
mination would  not  ensue  straightway  unless  they  now  re- 
jected   the   testimony    concerning   him,   refused  the   present 
blessing,   and   continued  in   iniquity.     But  on  the  contrary, 
that  the  return  of  the  Lord  Jesus  was  in  some  sort  dependant, 
so  to  speak,  on  the  repentance  of  their  nation.     Such  is  the 
fair  and  obvious  bearing  of  the  whole  exhortation.     But  I 
observe  further,  that  we  have  here  three  remarkable  examples 
of  the  use  of  the  preposition  «x,  out  of.     1.  The  Prince  of  Life 
was  raised  out  of  the  dead  ones;  2.  The  Prophet  like  to  Moses 
was  raised  out  of  the  brethren;  3.  The  obdurate  rejectors  of 
Messiah  were  to  be  exterminated  oiit  of  the  people.     In  each 
of  these  cases  it  is  expressly  implied  that  the  parties  referred 
to  were  respectively  severed  from  the  mass  to  which  they 
belonged. — The  crucified  Redeemer  was  separated  from  the 
dead— the  anointed  Prophet  from  the  brethren— and  the  ob- 
stinate revolters  from  the  people.     Strange  would  it  be  indeed, 
if  the  same  preposition,  when  used  two  verses  after  this  dis- 
course, should  have  lost  its  property  and  have  ceased  to  convey 
the  same  idea!     There  would  be  nothing  definite  in  language  if 
the  resurrection  that  out  of  dead  ones  did  not  imply  a  severing  of 
some  out  of  the  mass  of  the  dead,  that  they  might  be  distin- 
37* 


j^g  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

guished  as  the  children  of  the  resurrection,  while  the  residue 
continued  in  the  state  of  death. 

IV.  Though  the  words  out  of,  when  applied  to  a  thing  or  a 
person  taken  from  a  mass,  necessarily  exclude  the  notion  of 
universality,  yet  great  would  be  the  paucity  of  language,  if  it 
were  incapable  of  expressing  the  same  idea  without  the  use  of 
this  expression.     Very  inconclusive,  therefore,  is  the  following 
reasoning: — "The  xv.  chapter  of  1  Cor.  treats,  as  these  writers 
allow,"  you  have  already  perceived  I  am  not  of  the  number, 
"only  of  the  resurrection  of  those  who  are  Christ's  (ver.  24). 
In  this  we  have  the  word  resurrection  in  connexion  with  vw;w 
of  the  dead,  in  four  verses;  namely,  12,  13,  21,  42.     If,  there- 
fore, there  was  any  foundation  for  the  argument,  we  should 
certainly  find,  that  in  each  and  all  of  these  verses,  the  preposi- 
tion ix.  would  occur.     Instead  of  this  it  does  not  occur  in  one 
of  them."     Passing  by  the  fallacy  in  this  syllogism,  I  turn  to 
these  verses  and  I  find  them  particularly  confirmatory  of  the 
argument.     JVozv  if  Christ  be  preached  that  he  rose,  mwipaiv,  out  of 
dead  ones,  (an  undeniable  example  of  the  true  use  of  the  prepo- 
sition.    Comp.  1.  Pet.  i.  3.)  "how  say  some  among  you   that 
there  is  not  a  resurrection  of  dead  ones?     But  if  there  be  not 
a  resurrection  of  dead  ones,  then  is  Christ  not  risen."     Some 
amongst  these  Corinthians,  the  false  teachers,  &c.  had   pro- 
ceeded to  greater  lengths  than  modern  spiritualizers  have  done, 
and  denied,  in  the  true  Sadducean  spirit,  any  resurrection  at 
all.      With  them  he  argues  the  question  and  shows  that  if  the 
idea  of  a   resurrection  is   to   be  regarded  as  an    impossible, 
absurd,  or   carnal    thing,   then   it  would    equally  have    been 
so  in  the  case  of  Christ,  that  the  doctrine  of  his  resurrection 
would  have  been  fabulous,  and  that  the  whole  superstructure 
of  Christianity  would,  necessarily,  fall  to  the  ground.      But 
having  shewn,  upon  irresistible  evidence,  that  his  resurrection 
had  taken  place,  he  thence  draws  the  conclusion  that  he  had 
risen  as  the  first  fruits  of  the  sleepers,  "for  since  by  man  the 
death,  so  by  man  resurrection  of  dead  ones;  for  as  in  the  Adam 
all  die,  even  so  in  the  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive.     But 
every  one  in  his  own  order,"  &c.     While  he  establishes  the 
doctrine  of  a  resurrection  of  all,  he  takes  care  to  discriminate 
between  the  respective  epochs  at  which  the  several  bands  shall 
arise,  thus  resorting  to  a  more  unequivocal  form  of  speech, 
than  if  he  had  even  adopted  the  formula  elsewhere  met  with, 
viz. — the  resurrection  that  out  of  dead  ones.     Thus  we  perceive, 
that  however  meagre  language  may  be,  in  man's  use  of  it,  the 
Holy  Ghost  knoweth  how  to  render  it  expressive,  and  is  not 
restricted  to  any  one  mode  of  convej'ing  an  idea  through  such 
a  channel,  imperfect  as  it  is.      Returning  again  to  the  general 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  147 

doctrine  of  a  resurrection,  which  he  illustrates  by  a  reference 
to  the  uprising  of  vegetable  substances  from  decayed  seeds; 
and  strengthens  by  contrasting  the  existing  varieties  of  animal 
flesh,  of  mortal  and  of  immortal  bodies,  with  the  widely 
differing  character  of  the  luminous  orbs  of  heaven,  he  proceeds 
to  add — "So  also  is  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,"  ver.  42. 
Now  had  he  here  written,  "so  also  is  the  resurrection  out  of 
dead  ones,"  he  would  have  excluded  the  resurrection  of  the 
unjust,  and  have  left  his  argument  imperfect.  The  absence  of 
the  preposition  here  is,  therefore,  in  my  judgment,  a  con- 
vincing proof  of  its  true  force  where  it  is  really  employed. 

V.  Phil.  iii.  11.  "If  by  any  means  I  might  attain  unto  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead,"  Vulgate  &  Douay.  Though  I 
dispute  the  idea  attached  to  ss^vacrTao-K  oi  oulrisins  from  the  grave, 
I  am  not  unwilling  to  admit  the  general  law,  laid  down  by  Mr. 
Gipps,  that  vvhere  prepositions  of  motion  «,  s|,  or  o-tto,  occur  in 
composition  with  a  substantive,  they  do  not  govern  the  geni- 
tive which  follows,  but  some  other  substantive  understood,  or 
as  his  words  are,  "the  sense  of  the  preposition  does  not  belong 
to  the  genitive  case,  which  follows,  but  to  some  substantives 
understood.'^  But  why  may  not,  vMfm,  the  dead,  be  the  sub- 
stantive understood  here  as  well  as  Hades  aScvl  Now  the  fact 
is,  I  believe,  there  is  no  substantive  understood.  I  agree  with 
Dr.  Hales,  that  the  preposition  here  is  intensive,  and  that  the 
word  s|:tw<rTtfo-K  denotes  the  extraordinary  resurrection — just  as 
ixSix^y-i^t^v  denotes  the  extraordinary  anxiety,  with  which  the 
multitude  of  diseased  persons  at  Bethesda's  pool,  awaited  the 
stirring  of  the  water,  John  v.  3; — as  ^o^(iiv>,n  signifies  that 
thorough  disregard,  as  if  he  were  no  one,  with  which  Paul 
forbids  the  Corinthians  to  view  Timothy;  but  addeth  he, 
"conduct  him  forth  in  peace  for  I  wait  with  extraordinary 
anxiety,  mhx'^fjiat,  for  him  with  the  brethren,"  1  Cor.  xvi.  11; — 
and  as  £|sTa(r*Ts,  search  diligently,  signifies  the  extraordinary  dili- 
gence, with  which  Herod  exhorted  the  wise  men  to  seek  the 
young  child  at  Bethlehem.  Math.  ii.  8.  But  lest  there  might 
be  some  magic  in  a  substantive  thus  compounded  and  followed 
by  a  genitive,  I  present  3'ou  with  the  following  example:  "and 
shall  not  (jod  5ro/«crs/ t^v  £«/««!r<v  t*v  skasktsiv  at/Tou  cxeculo  the  extru- 
ordinary  avejigement  of  his  own  extraordinarily  chosen  ones, 
which  cry  day  and  night  unto  him,  though  he  bear  long  with 
them.  I  tell  you  that  he  will  execute  the  extraordinary 
avengement  of  those  very  ones  speedily,"  tw  tx-ity-^ic-iv  avrm  iv rctxu. 
Luke  xviii.  7,  8.  These  quotations,  which  might  be  greatly 
multiplied,  fully  establish  the  sense,  which  I  annex  to  the 
word  (s|avi<7Ta!r/;.)  But  the  sentence  in  which  it  occurs,  re- 
quires  that    it   should   denote  something   more  than  a  mere 


J48  THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION. 

resurrection.  It  is  certain  that  all  men,  whatever  their  cha- 
racter may  have  been,  will  arise  from  the  grave;  but  the  very 
language  that  Paul  employs  here  denotes  that  the  resurrection 
to  which  he  desires  to  attain,  is  by  no  means  secure  to  all  men, 
and  it  must  therefore  be  some  particular  or  extraordinary 
resurrection.  I  have  above  intimated  that  outrising  is  not  and 
cannot  be  the  literal  import  of  (^uv^ta-TcLo-t;.  When  it  was  so 
expressed  it  must  have  been  forgotten  that  a  second  preposition 
enters  into  the  composition  of  this  word,  which  signifies  again, 
so  that  were  we  to  render  it  according  to  the  full  force  of  its 
component  parts,  we  should  employ  the  periphrasis,  the  rising 
again  out  of.  The  primitive  idea  attached  to  the  preposition 
tx.  in  composition,  when  it  becomes  intensive,  we  may  possibly 
arrive  at,  by  examining  its  employment,  in  the  word  i^»Si\<po;  a 
nephew,  one  who  cometh  out  of  the  loins  of  a  brother,  a  graft, 
an  excision  from  a  brother,  where  the  sense  of  the  preposition 
is  reflective,  or  belongs  to  the  word  brother,  with  which  it  is 
conjoined.  A  viceroy,  by  allowable  fiction,  being  regarded  as 
one,  who  had  proceeded  out  of  the  supreme  ruler,  was,  in  like 
manner  styled  an  Ex-arch,  i^^px'^^-  ^^  one  was  concentered  a 
brother's  nature,  and  a  brother's  likeness,  and  in  the  other 
was  concentered,  as  it  were,  the  imperial  dignity  and  power. 
Thus  an  Ex-anastasis,  or  extraordinary  resurrection,  is  the 
concentered  outgoing  of  the  whole  resurrection,  represented 
in  the  outraised  Saints,  who  are  the  first  fruits  unto  God,  and 
the  Lamb.  As  this  word  does  not  occur  elsewhere,  it  is  the 
more  difficult  to  establish  its  import.  But  we  meet  with  a 
kindred  expression,  in  1  Cor.  vi.  14.  o  ^•t  eto;  km  tov  Kvpioy  nynfn  kai 
vju^;  e^iyipti.  "But  God  hath  both  raised  the  Lord,  and  will  out- 
raise,  or  pre-eminently  raise  you."  That  the  word  {i^iyipu)  pos- 
sesses this  intense  force,  can  admit  of  no  doubt,  when  we  find 
it  employed  thus  remarkably  in  Rom.  ix.  27;  "the  scripture 
saith  unto  Pharoah,  even  for  this  same  purpose,  have  I  raised 
thee  up,  i^ttyup^cri  remarkably  elevated  thee,  that  I  might  shew 
my  power  in  thee."  While  for  the  sake  of  argument,  I  have 
admitted  Mr.  Gipps'  rule,  concerning  the  force  of  the  com- 
pounded prepositions  of  motion,  I  would  just  add,  that  the 
general  sense  of  the  passage,  must  ever  determine  the  import 
of  the  word. — For  instance  a.7rc0aviiv  rov  nrTrm  is  good  Greek,  to 
express  the  act  of  alighting  from  a  horse,  and  no  Grecian  could 
understand  it  to  express  the  act  of  the  horse  itself,  in  alighting, 
unless  indeed,  the  context  proved  that  the  horse,  and  not  the 
rider,  was  the  descending  animal.  According  to  this  view  of 
the  subject,  tiierefore,  if  it  can  be  proved,  as  I  consider  it  can, 
from  Rev.  xx.  4.  and  other  places,  that  the  just  shall  arise,  to 
reign  with  Christ  on  earth,  before  the  general  resurrection,  1 


THE  FIRST  RESURRECTION.  149 

know  no  law  of  interpretation,  which  can  forbid  our  under- 
standing the  (oulrisi?ig  of  dead  ones)  e^Avnc-TsLo-i;  Tutimfm  with  many 
eminent  Greek  scholars,  as  for  instance,  the  author  of  the 
letters  signed  Basilicus,  as  importing  the  resurrection  out  of 
dead  ones,  if  it  should  be  preferred  to  that,  for  which  I  have 
argued,  and  which  amounts  to  precisely  the  same  thing,  in 
the  end. 

VI.  Twelve  pages  of  Mr.  Gipps'  third  chapter  are  devoted 
to  prove,  that  the  resurrection  of  the  just  will  be  distinguished 
from  that  of  the  unjust  according  to  his  own  theory,  in  a  way 
of  transcendant  blessing,  which  would  be  sufficient  to  account 
as  he  judged  for  the  strong  language  employed,  Luke  xiv.  14; 
XX.  35,  36 ;  Phil.  iii.  11;  Heb.  xi.  35.  I  feel  it,  however,  quite 
needless  to  follow  him,  and  certainly  do  not  design  to  pursue 
the  system  unfolded  in  his  fourth  and  fflh  chapters.  I  fear  I 
have  already  wearied  you  with  my  remarks,  and  have  no  de- 
sire to  trespass  longer  on  your  patience.  I  would,  however, 
just  observe,  that  it  is  not  enough  to  prove,  that  the  parties, 
who  arise,  will  be  distinguised  from  each  other;  but  that  it  is 
also  necessary  to  demonstrate  that  the  resurrection  in  which 
they  respectively  will  obtain  a  part  is  distinct  also,  before  it 
can  be  possible  to  evade  the  force  of  the  above  places.  May 
we,  dear  brother,  and  all  for  whom  we  are  interested,  obtain  a 
part  in  the  first  resurrection. 


APPENDIX. 


Kilcoleman  Parsonage 
17th  March,  1832. 

I  need  offer  no  apology  for  requesting  your  attention  to  a 
more  connected  expression  of  what  I  believe  to  be  the  mind  of 
the  spirit  in  Rom.  viii.  19,  23,  than  the  unexpected  discussion, 
extreme  nervousness,  and  much  interruption  enabled  me  to  do 
at  our  late  meeting.  This,  I  shall  endeavour  to  attempt  in  as 
brief  a  way  as  possible,  and  in  the  words  of  others,  as  far  as 
possible,  rather  than  my  own.  As  the  question  hinges  on  the 
meaning  of  the  word  uncnc  creature  or  creation,  I  will  first  try 
to  ascertain  its  proper  sense. 

I  remember  to  have  stated,  that  the  word  jct/w  never  signi- 
fies the  new  creation  without  the  addition  of  the  word  new.  I 
have  since  justified  the  remark  by  reference  to  Schmidii  Con- 
cordantia.  The  word  exactly  occurs  nineteen  times  in  the  New 
Testament. 

Three  times  in  Mark,  viz.  chap.  x.  6. — xiii.  19 — xvi.  15. 

In  the  two  former  it  manifestly  signifies  the  visible  creation. 
In  the  last  it  may  denote  merely  the  intelligent  creation,  but  the 
true  rendering  is,  ''going  into  the  whole  world  an?iounce  the  glad 
tidings  for  the  whole  creation;^'  and  I  believe  it  to  refer  to"  the 
material  creation  also.  For  Christ  has  redeemed  the  material, 
out  of  which  man's  body  was  made,  as  well  as  the  immaterial. 

Seven  times  in  Rom.  i.  20,  25 — Rom.  viii.  19,20,21,22,  39. 

The  two  verses  in  the  first  chapter,  and  verse  39  in  chapter 
viii.  plainly  describe  the  visible  creation.  The  remaining 
verses  are  those  at  present  in  dispute. 

Twice  in  Colossians,  viz.  i.  chap.  i.  15. 

The  first  begotten  of  every  creature.  If  we  read  Tr^teroTUt,;  in- 
stead of  ^g«T3Tcxi!f,*  (which   is   indeed  no  various  reading,  our 

*  Homer  uses  it  in  the  sense  of  v^unoyom.  I  quote  the  following  remarks 
from  Isidorus  Pelusiot,  Lib.  iii.  Ep.  31.  Ophelia  Grammalico.  "Tristis  ac 
pervulgatis  omissis,  aperte,  quod  senlio,  dicam;  eiiam  si  quibusdam  videri  pos- 
sim  novara  interpretationis  viam  inire,  o  ^rgaiTOToxoct  (id  est  primogenitus)  si 
secunda  syllaba  acuatur,  eum  qui  primus  natus  est,  significat.    Si  autem  pe- 

t  Omitti  potest  in  interpret.  ^ 


X52  APPENDIX. 

MSS.  being  without  accents,)  the  true  rendering  will  be  the  first 
producer  of  the  whole  creation.  This  is  plain  from  the  words 
which  follow,  furnishing  us  as  they  do,  with  the  proof  of  this 
title  of  Messiah,  For  by  him  were  all  things  created,  SfC. 

Again,  chap.  i.  23. —  Which  was  preached  to  every  creature  zohich 
was  under  heaven.  The  gospel  had  not  been  preached  to  every 
individual  under  heaven.  It  should  be  rendered  preached  iv  in 
or  "through  the  whole  creation  under  heaven."  This  esta- 
blishes the  true  meaning  of  Mark  xvi.  15. 


nultima,  eura  qui  primum  genuit.  Atque  id  vobis  preserlim,  qnos  Homeri 
lectio  delectat,  comperlum  et  exploratum  est.  Trgan-oTinotJirct  enim,  ea  quae  pri- 
mum peperit,  ab  ipso  dicta  est.  Probabile  itaque,  imo  necessarium  fuerit  ani- 
madvertere,  hujusmodi  quodam  sensu  hie  quoque  divinum  Paulum  usum 
fuisse,  cum  Christum  omnis  creaturse  primogenitum  dixit.  Hoc  quippe  voca- 
bulo  non  eum  primum  ex  omnibus  rebus  conditis  creatura  esse  docet,  (absit) 
quippe  qui  splendorem  gloriiK,  et  patern^  substantia?  characterem  ipsum  ap- 
pellet  verum  eum  resconditas  primo  peperisse,  hoc  est  effecisse:  ita  ut  (tertia 
syllaba  acuto  accentu  notata)  7rga>Tcyovo(  non  Tr^ceToyivn;  i.  e.  primo  gignens,  non 
primogenitus,  Tr^eeTOKria-Tn;  non  Tr^oTox.Tia-To;  id  est,  primo  creans,  non  primo 
creatus.  Q,nod  auteino  toxjc  hoc  loco  pro  creatione  accipiatur,  non  est  quod 
quisquam  miretur,  cum  alio  etiam  loco  dictum  sit,  Deum,  qui  te  genuit,  dere- 
liquisti.  Atque  alio  item,  Filios  genui,  et  exaltavi.  Ac  rursum.  Ego  dixi,  Dii 
estis  et  filii  excelsi  omnes.  Cluonian  enim  et  cum  Deus  genuit,  citra  pas- 
sionem  ullam  genuit,  et  cum  creaf,  citra  omnem  passionem,  et  modo  divi- 
nitati  consentaneo,  ac  sine  ullo  labore  creat,  idcirca  Scriptura  his  vocabu- 
lis  usa  est,  non  ut  per  generationem  creationem,  et  per  creationem  gene- 
rationem  intelligamus,  (quemadmodum  improbe  ac  vetaratorie  hseretici 
affirmare  videntur)  sed  ut  faciliiatem,  Deique  ab  omni  perpessione  vacuita- 
tem  ostendat.  Q,uod  si  quis  ei  dumtaxat,  qua  prius  ipsius  animus  imbutus 
est,  opinioni  addictus,  ac  non  veritatem  sibi  ante  oculos  proponens  verbis  meis 
refragetur,  nee  mihi  ipse  judex  ero,  nee  item  ipsum  sibi  ipsi  judicem  esse 
requum  fuerit.  Cluocirca  incorruptisjudicibus  negotium  committamus.  ac  nos- 
trse  disputationis  arbitri  sint  auditores.  Itaque  si  ille  aliquid  demonstrare 
queat,  demonstret.  Sin  autem  a  me  demonstrationem  exigit,  hunc  ipsum  qui 
his  verbis  usus  est,  testem  proferam.  Postquam  enim  dixit  Primogenitus 
omnis  creaturse,  mox  hfec  verba  subjunxit,  Cluoniam  in  ipso  creata  sunt  omnia, 
quae  in  ccelis  sunt  et  quce  in  terra.  Cluamobrem  si  dixit,  Post  eum  creata  sunt, 
quin  secundum  adversariam  pronuncietis,  causam  baud  dico.  Si  autem,  in 
ipso  (etenim  in  Creatore  rerum  omnium  procrealio  et  conservatio  est.  Gluod 
quidem  etiam  alio  loco  explanans,  dixit.  In  ipso  enim  vivimus,  et  movemnr, 
et  sumus)  sine  controversia,  ut  opinor,  nostra  est  victoria.  Q,uod  si  ea  etiam, 
quae  sequuntur  narravero,  luculentius  adhuc  trophasum  erit.  Ait  enim,  Et 
ipse  est  ante  omnia.  Non  dixit.  Ipse  I'actus  est  ante  omnia,  sed.  Est  ante  om- 
nia. Et  omnia  in  ipso  constitnta  sunt.  Non  dixit,  Cum  ipso  nee.  Post  eum 
creata  sunt — Cluid  autem  est  quamobrem  cos  rejiciunt,  qui  eum  diviniratis  ra- 
tione  unigenilum  dictum  esse  aiunt,  humanae  autem  naturte  respect u  primo- 
genitum omnis  creaturae'?  Nam  si  nee  ita  intelligatur,  nee  item  7r^aiTcx.Ti:i-T>t; 
vocetur,  promogeniti  vox,  siquidem  unigenito  copuletur,  nobilitatem  dcsignare 
potest  (potest  enim  quispiam  et  primogenitus  et  unigenitus  filiiis  esse)  si 
autem  rebus  creatis,  ocum  non  habet.  Aut  enim  /uovchtij-toc,  id  est,  solus  cre- 
atus aut  primogenitus  erit.  Alterutrum  enim  altcrutrum  de  medio  toliit.  Cluid 
autem  prohibcbat,  quo  minus  aperte  ipse  dicerel,  ^rgaTJxr/o-Tic  omnis  creaturse. 
Jam  si  TT^urcKTicTToc,  i.  e.  primus  creatus  intelligatur,  quonam  pacto  unigenitus 
estl  Nam  quod  solum  est,  aliud  haudquaquam  admittit.  Ac  primum  item 
solum  repudiat.  Cluidnam  autem  juxta  hoc  ipsum  rebus  conditis  praestat,  si 
ipse  quoque  creatus  estl  Gluin  autem  erubescimt,  creaturam  adoranles,  ac 
saismet  ipsi  senlentiis  adversanles;  quippe  qui,  cum  res  creaias  adorari  vetent, 


APPENDIX.  153 

Twice  in  Hebrews,  viz.  chap.  iv.  12,  which  I  translate, 

"Even  creation  is  not  unexposed  to  his  view;  but  all  things," 
evidently  throughout  nature,  "are  naked  and  open  to  the  eyes 
of  him  with  whom  we  have  to  do." 

"There  is  not  a  creature,  all  things  created.  That  is,  every 
creature  whatever,  whether  they  be  persons,  or  things,  angels, 
men,  devils,  professors,  persecutors,  all  men  of  all  sorts,  and 
all  things  concerning  them."   Ozcen  i?i  loco. 

Chap.  ix.  11. — The  tabernacle,  of  which  Christ  is  the  High 
Priest,  is  not  of  this  crealion.  In  both  these  places  the  visible 
creation  is  spoken  of. 

Once  in  1  Peter,  chap.  ii.  13. 

Submit  yourselves  to  every  ordinance  of  man.  The  Greek  is 
"every  human  creation."  Macknight  adds,  to  supply  the 
sense,  "of  magistrates,"  they  are  appointed  by  man;  but,  being 
elevated  by  the  providence  of  God,  are  to  be  submitted  to. 
Leighton  says,  "although  civil  authority  in  regard  of  particu- 
lar forms  of  government,  and  the  choice  of  persons  to  govern, 
is  but  a  human  ordinance  or  man's  creature,  as  the  word  is, 
yet  both  the  good  of  government,  and  the  duty  of  subjection 
to  it,  is  God's  ordinance,  and  therefore,  for  his  sake,  submit 
yourselves. 

Once  in  2  Peter,  viz.  chap.  iii.  4. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  creation.  Without  any  distinction 
of  creation  into  animate  or  inanimate. 

Once  in  Rev.  viz.  chap.  iii.  14. 

Christ  is  called  the  beginning  of  the  creation  of  God,  the 
chief,  prince,  first  cause,  and  supporter  of  all  nature.  The 
word  it^x»  here  translated  beginning,  is  translated  elsewhere,  as 
Eph.  vi.  12,  where  it  occurs  in  the  plural,  principalities. 

The  word  Jtr/w  creation  occurs  also  in  connection  with  the 
word  nezv,  in  2  Cor.  v.  17;  Gal.  vi.  15.  Except  in  these  two 
places,  and  in  1  Peter  ii.  13,  I  maintain  that  the  world  at  large, 
material  and  immaterial,  visible  and  invisible,  is  denoted. 

I  ask,  then,  how  the  occurrence  of  the  word  in  Galatians  and 
Corinthians  with  a  limiting  adjunct,  marking  out  a  certain  por- 

lU  Gentilium  errorem,  ipsi  tamen  se  hoc  facere  minime  animadvertantl  quin 
illud  quoque  nosse  operee  pretiiim  est,  eadetn  vocabula  non  semper  easdem  res 
significare,  neque  homonymiam  synonymiam  omni  modo  designari.  De  Filio 
enim  generatio  propria  dicilur,  de  conditis  aiUem  rebus,  improprie:  de  illo 
inquam  ob  veritatem  eandemque  substantiam;  de  his  autem,  honoris  et  adop- 
tionis  causa.  Volens  enim  genuit  nos  verbo  verilatis.  Cliiocirca  homonymia 
hoc  loco  honoris  aequalitatem  no  pariat;  nee  quae  improprie  dictse  sunt,  pro- 
prie  dicta  esse  quisquam  existimet.  duandoquidem  nee  furorem,  nee  iram, 
nee  alia  omnia,  quae,  cum  divinee  naturae  minime  conveniat,  per  abusuni  dicta 
sunt,  quisquam  mentis  compos  proprie  usurpatae  esse  dixerit.  Perspicuum 
enim  est,  quod  unicuique  loco,  et  cuilibet  dictioni,  congrua  et  consentanea  in- 
tcrpretatio  adhibita,  veritatem  parlurit." 
VOL.  III. — 38 


154  APPENDIX. 

tion  of  creation  that  is  made  new,  can  alter  its  primitive  and 
invariable  import,  so  as  to  make  it  capable  of  conveying  that 
restricted  sense,  though  the  limiting  and  defining  adjunct  be 
wanting?  If  it  be  capable  of  this  sense,  I  may  then  say,  that 
the  creation  is  in  Christ  Jesus — that  the  creation  is  foreknown, 
predestinated,  called,  justified,  glorified,  without  prefixing  the 
word  7iew.  This  recondite  sen?eof  the  word  would  have  been 
unknown  to  the  Romans,  without  the  key  furnished  by  Gala- 
tians  and  Corinthians,  which  they  had  not;  and  we  must  there- 
fore interpret  it,  as  they  would  have  interpreted  it,  according 
to  the  known  use  of  words.  Suppose,  however,  that  we  admit 
this  new  canon  of  criticism,  and  that  2i  substantive  may  be  taken 
to  mean  what  an  adjective  at  times  joined  with  it,  constrains  it 
under  such  circumstances  to  signify,  then  may  we  put  another 
construction  on  the  place  not  as  yet  imagined.  The  word  K-ria-u 
with  the  adjunct  avt3ga)7r/v«  in  1  Pet.  iii.  13,  signifies  the  supreme 
magistracy.  We  therefore  may  maintain  that  it  is  the  su- 
preme magistracy,  which,  with  eager  expectation,  awaiteth  the 
manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God.  This  is  not  the  way  where- 
in we  would  deal  with  any  other  writing.  A  traveller  relates 
in  the  course  of  his  journal,  that  he  passed  through  a  Rhodo- 
dendron forest.  He  afterwards  takes  notice  of  a  number  of 
other  forests  through  which  he  has  passed,  or  which  he  has 
seen  in  the  distance,  vvithout  specifying  the  kind  of  trees  of 
which  these  forests  are  composed.  Is  there  any  man,  possess- 
ing a  due  regard  for  truth,  who  would  venture  to  assert,  on  the 
authority  of  this  traveller's  journal,  that  all  the  forests,  through 
which  he  had  passed,  were  forests  of  Rhododendrons?  In  the 
history  of  America,  we  read  at  an  early  stage,  of  the  circum- 
stances attending  the  discovery  of  what  is  there  called  the  New 
World;  its  productions,  inhabitants,  &c.,  are  described  in  glow- 
ing terms.  Whenever  we  meet  in  subsequent  pages  with  the 
word  world,  without  the  adjunct  7iew  prefixed,  should  we  be 
justified  in  supposing  it  was  understood? 

Some  one  in  Grotius  suggested  the  idea  of  supplying  the 
word  71670  heioYQ  creation,  in  Rom.  viii.  19,  22,  as  did  also  Vor- 
tius.  The  very  replies,  which  I  ofl'ered  to  this  notion,  are,  I 
find,  given  in  Poole's  Syn.  Crit.  Vortius,  it  appears,  endea- 
voured to  bolster  up  his  view  by  pleading,  that  the  7iova  crea- 
tura  was  spoken  of,  ex  more  Hebrcrorum,  qui  simplicia  saepe  pro 
compositis  usurpant;  to  which  it  is  answered,  sed  ii  simpliciter 
et  sine  additamento  kti^i;  non  vocantur.  Neque  satis  cohaeret 
sermo,  si  (idem  sint  una-i;  et  filii  Dei.  Gill,  who  understands 
the  Gentile  world  as  opposed  to  the  Jewish,  by  the  word  crea- 
ture, replies  to  the  notion  of  its  signifying  those  who  are  7iezv 
creatures,  "these  cannot  be  said   to  be  in   a  state  of  bondage  to 


APPENDIX.     -  155 

corruption,  for  they  are  freed  from  the  dominion  of  sin,  and  are 
become  servants  of  righteousness."  But  further,  let  us  take 
the  literal  rendering  of  the  Greek,  which  is  thus  correctly  given 
by  Macknight,  (who  states  in  a  note,  that  "some  commenta- 
tors consider  verse  20,  as  a  parenthesis,  and  join  verse  19  and 
20  together,  thus:  21.  'Hhe  earnest  desire  of  the  creature  look- 
eth  for  the  revelation  of  the  sons  of  God,  21,  In  hope,  &c.") 

21.  "In  hope  that  the  creature  itself  shall  be  liberated  from 
the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  freedom  of  the  glory  of  the 
children  of  God." 

You  will  at  once  perceive  that  as  bondage  and  freedom  are 
opposed  to  each  other;  so  also  are  corruption  and  glory.  The 
former  <f>95g*  signifies  mortality,  decay,  which  now  tyrannizes  as  a 
slave-oxmer  over  creation,*  which  is  looking  forward  for  a 
change  of  masters,  hoping  (aTrojwgaJ^cKw)  with  an  anxious  stretch- 
ing forth  of  the  head,  to  be  placed  under  the  liberating  rule  of 
the  glory,  which  belongeth  to  the  children  of  God.  When 
their  {a.-7roKXKv].t?)  apocalypse  shall  take  place,  the  event  for  which 
the  K-TitrtQ  is  thus  looking,  freedom  shall  be  proclaimed  to  the 
bounden — there  shall  be  an  entire  exemption  from  that  bond- 
age, under  which  all  nature  now  groaneth.  Thus,  by  a  most 
beautiful  figure  of  speech,  all  nature  is  represented  as  one  com- 
pound personage  intensely  looking  out  for  the  arrival  of  a  glad 
and  glorious  era.  For  the  oustretched  head  of  creation  looketh 
for  {ATfiKSiXira-i  see  Phil.  iii.  20.)  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of 
God.  The  transitory  sufferings  of  the  present  time  can  never 
be  put  in  competition  with  the  glory  which  shall  be  apocalypsed 
IN  us;  for  even  the  creation  itself,  which  shall  not  possess  the 
glory,  shall  nevertheless  derive  from  them  such  real  solid 
benefit,  such  true  freedom  from  real  ills,  that  she  also  is  desir- 
ous of  our  APOCALYPSE.  The  figure,  by  which  the  affections 
of  the  mind  are  attributed  to  inanimate  nature,  need  not  startle 
us.  It  is  common  in  the  Bible.  The  trees  of  the  wood  are  re- 
quired to  rejoice,  in  common  with  the  joyful  field,  before  Jeho- 
vah when  he  comelh,  &c.  Psalm  cxcvi.  12,  13;  Is.  42:  10-12. 
The  same  idea,  with  some  variation,  is  expressed  in  Psalm 
xcviii.  8.  "Let  the  floods  clap  their  hands,  let  the  hills  be 
joyful  together  before  the  Jehovah,"  &c.  Psalm  cxlviii.,  con- 
sists solely  of  an  invitation  to  all  creation,  animate  and  inani- 
mate, material  and  immaterial,  angels  and  men,  the  starry  hea- 
vens and  the  depths  of  ocean,  fire,  hail,  snow,  vapours,  moun- 
tains, and  all  hills,  beasts  and  all  cattle,  creeping  things,  and 
birds  of  every  wing,  to  praise  the  then  only  exalted  name  of 

*  The  heathen  according  to  Macknight,  who  inconsistently  restricts  the 
blessing  here  universally  predicated  of  the  xT/a-«  to  those  who  believe  amongst 
the  heathen! 


156  APPENDIX. 

him,  whose  glory  is  above  the  earth  and  heaven ;  and  who  shall 
at  that  time  exalt  the  horn  oHi'is  people,  the  praise  of  all  his  saints, 
even  of  the  children  of  Israel,  a  people  near  unto  him.  Praise  ye  the 
Lord,  Why  this  is  the  very  counterpart  of  Paul's  statement 
which  we  have  been  considering,  and  marks  the  period  of  Israel's 
recovery  and  blessedness,  as  synchronizing  with  the  epoch  of 
the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God.  The  fact  then  is,  that 
the  place  before  us  simply  expresses  the  desire  of  all  nature 
for  that  blissful  change  in  the  constitution  of  the  world,  which 
is  predicted  in  the  Psalms  above  referred  to,  as  also  in  Isaiah 
Xi.  6,  9.;  Ixv.  25;  Ezek.  xxxiv.  25;  Hos.  ii.  IS.  The  best 
commentary  I  know  on  the  place  is  the  following  splendid  pas- 
sage of  one,  who  was  himself  a  master  of  figure,  our  own  sweet 
poet,  Cowper: — 

The  groans  of  nature  in  this  lower  world 
Which  heaven  has  heard  for  ages,  have  an  end, 
Foretold  by  prophets  and  by  poets  sung, 
Whose  fire  was  kindled  at  the  prophet's  lamp, 
The  time  of  rest,  the  promised  sabbath  comes. 
Six  thousand  years  of  sorrow  have  well  nigh 
Fulfilled  their  tardy  and  disastrous  course 
Over  a  sinful  world;  and  what  remains 
Of  this  tempestuous  state  of  human  things, 
Ts  merely  as  the  working  of  a  sea 
Before  a  calm,  that  rocks  itself  to  rest; 
For  he  whose  car  the  winds  are,  and  the  clouds 
The  dust,  that  waits  upon  his  sultry  march, 
When  sin  hath  moved  him,  and  his  wrath  is  hot. 
Shall  visit  earth  in  mercy;  shall  descend 
Propitious  in  his  chariot  paved  with  love; 
And  what  his  storms  have  blasted  and  defaced, 
For  man's  revolt,  shall  with  a  smile  repair. 
******* 
****** 
O  scenes  surpassing  fable,  and  yet  true; 
Scenes  of  accoiiiplished  bliss!  which  who  can  see, 
Though  but  in  distant  prospect,  and  not  feel 
His  soul  refreshed  with  foretaste  of  the  joyl 
Rivers  of  gladness  water  all  the  earth. 
And  clothe  all  climes  with  beauty;  the  reproach 
Of  barrenness  is  past.     The  fruitful  field 
Laughs  with  abundance;  and  the  land  once  lean, 
Or  fertile  only  in  its  own  disgrace, 
Exults  to  see  its  thistly  curse  repealed. 
The  various  seasons  woven  into  one, 
And  that  one  season  an  eternal  spring. 
The  garden  i''ears  no  blight,  and  needs  no  fence, 
For  there  is  none  to  covet,  all  are  full. 
The  lion,  and  the  libbard,  and  the  bear, 
Graze  with  the  fearless  flocks;  all  bask  at  noon 
Together,  or  all  gambol  in  the  shade 
Of  the  same  grove,  and  drink  one  common  stream. 
,  Antipathies  are  none.     No  foe  to  man 

Lurks  in  the  serpent  now;  the  mother  sees, 
And  smiles  to  see,  her  infant's  playful  hand 
Stretched  forth  to  dally  with  the  crested  worm, 


'      APPENDIX.  157 

To  stroke  his  azure  neck,  or  to  receive 
The  lambent  homage  of  his  arrowy  tongue. 
All  creatures  worship  man,  and  all  mankind 
One  Lord,  one  Father.     Error  has  no  place; 
That  creeping  pestilence  is  driven  away; 
The  breath  of  heaven  has  chased  it.     In  the  breast 
No  passion  touches  a  discordant  string. 
But  all  is  harmony  and  love.     Disease 
Is  not;  the  pure  and  uncontaminate  blood 
Holds  its  due  course,  nor  fears  the  frost  of  age. 
One  song  employs  ail  nations;  and  all  cry, 
"Worthy  the  lamb,  for  he  was  slain  for  us!'' 

The  remainder  of  the  passage  is  too  long  to  be  transcribed. 
I  conclude  then,  that  universal  nature  is  looking  out  for  a 
most  joyous  event.  To  avoid  pain,  secure  its  cessation,  and 
ensure  happiness,  is  the  object  of  all  animal  existence.  The 
nobler  vegetables,  when  the  care  of  the  cultivator  is  absent, 
struggle  to  maintain  their  superiority  over  the  thistle  and  the 
briar.  While  earth  groaning  audibly,  (under  the  anguish  of 
the  curse)  in  the  earthquake  and  the  volcano,  has  already 
attempted  to  vomit  forth  the  fire  that  preyeth  on  her  vitals. 
Yea,  she  has  wrought  hard  to  antedate  the  time,  when  nations 
shall  be  born  in  a  day,  and  there  shall  be  no  more  sea,  by  the 
heaving  forth  of  island  after  island  from  the  depths  of  the  abyss. 
The  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God  is  the  event,  for  the 
occurrence  of  which,  all  nature  is  so  big  with  anticipation. 
She  longeth  for  this  event,  because  her  liberation  is  dependant 
on  the  glory,  which  shall  be  revealed  in  the  children  of  God, 
when  they  obtain  the  adoption.  But  not  only  is  creation  at 
large  groaning  and  travailing  in  labour  pains  for  the  arrival  of 
this  period,  but  "we  ourselves  also  which  have  the  first  fruits 
of  the  Spirit,  even  we  ourselves  groan  within  ourselves,  wait- 
ing for  the  adoption,  the  redemption  of  the  body."  We  do  so 
with  still  greater  propriety,  with  a  deeper  sense  of  personal 
interest;  for  that  event,  the  adoption,  or,  as  before  expressed, 
the  APOCALYPSE  OF  THE  SONS  OF  GOD  shall  provc  the  redemplion 
of  OUR  bodies,  bodies  that  now  harass  us,  and  are  subject  to 
such  disease  and  suffering,  bodies  which  we  cheerfully  mortify, 
bodies  in  which  we  hail  reproach,  and  endure  sufferingybr  and 
with  Christ;  knowing  that  when  he  shall  appear,  with  whom 
we  jointly  suffer,  we  shall  be  like  him  and  be  jointly  glorified 
with  him.  If  nature  then,  involuntarily  subjected  to  vanity, 
shall  then  be  emancipated,  what  and  how  great  vvill  be  our 
glory,  when  the  very  manifestation  m  ?/s  shall  bring  such  benefit 
to  the  world  at  large?  So  exceeding  great  will  be  the  weight 
thereof  as  to  mock  all  comparison  with  our  present  light  afflic- 
tions, which  are  but  for  a  moment. 

Such  for  many  years  has  been  the  view  I  have  taken  of  the 
Apostle's  reasoning.     I  was  willing,  for  the  sake  of  the  argu- 
3S* 


J  58  APPENDIX. 

nient,  to -take  lower  ground  in  the  recent  discussion,  which 
took  place,  and,  to  show  that  even  were  the  expression,  the 
creation  and  the  xvhole  creation,  understood  to  denote  mankind 
merely,  without  embracing,  (as  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  they 
do,)  the  lower  animals  and  the  ground  still  subject  to  the  curse 
for  man's  sake,  the  argument  would  still  be  weighty  enough 
to  overturn  all  the  schemes  of  our  spiritualizers;  and  the  pas- 
sage direct  us  to  an  era,  when  the  condition  of  mankind,  then 
subject  to  the  rule  of  Christ  and  his  joint  heirs,  shall  be  un- 
speakably improved.  I  feel  that  I  left  the  argument,  on  that 
occasion,  imperfect;  and  therefore  deem  it  necessary  to  add 
these  remarks  for  the  cause  of  truth — truth,  in  my  apprehen- 
sion, the  most  cheering,  spiritual,  and  edifying — the  very 
truth  for  the  realization  of  which  we  are  taught  in  the  divine 
word,  to  hope.  1  would  refer  you  in  addition  to  Fry's  com- 
mentary on  the  passage,  which  contains  many  weighty  obser- 
vations. I  could  write  much  more,  and  quote  largely  from 
ponderous  folios,  since  there  is  such  an  overweening  regard 
for  authority.  One  observation  and  I  have  done.  All  the 
difficulties  with  which  this  passage  has  been  surrounded,  have 
arisen  from  the  indisposition  to  admit  the  doctrine  of  the 
renovation  of  nature  at  the  apocalypse  of  the  sons  of  God, 
which  it  obviously  teaches,  when  suffered  to  speak  for  itself; 
and  is  not  tortured  from  its  plain  and  grammatical  import, 
except  by  those  who  would  be  wise  above  that  which  is 
v^'ritten.  I  annex  a  quotation  from  Doddridge,  which  shews 
the  readiness  with  which  men  resolve  on  departing  from  the 
letter  of  Scripture,  when  they  find  it  opposed  to  their  own 
system.  I  have  the  honour  to  remain,  &c. 


EXTRACT  FROM  DODDRIDGE  ABOVE  REFERRED  TO. 

Verse  19.  "T/ie  earnest  expect,  ^-c.  This,  and  the  following 
verses,  have  been  generally,  and  not  without  reason,  accounted 
as  difficult  as  any  part  of  this  epistle.  The  difficulty  has  per- 
haps been  something  increased  by  rendering  ktuti;  creation  in 
one  clause,  and  creature  in  another.  To  explain  it,  as  chiefly 
referring  to  the  brutal  or  inanimate  creation  is  insufferable; 
since  the  day  of  the  redemption  of  our  bodies  will  be  attended 
with  the  conflagration,  which  will  put  an  end  to  them!!!" 
This  was  his  own  unfounded  assumption  which  he  does  not 
pause  to  prove,  and  which  no  man  can  prove.  According  to 
his  theory,  however,  this  was  to  be  the  case,  and,  because  this 
passage  opposes  his  theory,  its  plain  import  is  to  be  rejected. 


APPENDIX.  J59 

He  proceeds,  "The  interpretation,  therefore,  by  which  Dr- 
Whitby  and  Mr.  Grove  refer  it  to  the  Gentile  world  is  much 
preferable  to  this."  Why?  Apply  his  own  argument  to  this 
interpretation,  and  how  much  better  will  it  be?  Is  the  Gentile 
world  to  survive  and  be  improved  after  the  conflagration, 
which,  according  to  his  opinion,  has  put  an  end  to  the  whole? 
He  was  not,  however,  satisfied  with  this  stretch  of  Whitby's 
expositorial  skill,  and  therefore  he  adds  as  follows,  endeavour- 
ing to  apply  to  the  present  condition  of  things  what  is  said  of 
the  future — "But,  on  the  whole,  I  think,  it  gives  a  much  sub- 
limer  and  nobler  sense  to  suppose  it  a  bold  prosopopaia,  by 
which,  on  account  of  the  calamity  sin  brought,  and  continued 
on  the  whole  unevangelized  world,*  (though  few  of  its  inha- 
bitants saw  so  much  of  their  misery,  as  actually  to  desire  the 
remedy,)  it  is  represented  as  looking  out  xvith  eager  expectation 
(as  the  word  aoroj^aga/iixw  exactly  signifies)  for  such  a  remedy 
and  relief  as  the  Gospel  brings,  by  the  prevalency  of  which 
human  nature  would  be  rescued  from  vanity  and  corruption, 
and  inferior  creatures  from  tyranny  and  abuse.  Nothing  is 
,  more  common  than  to  represent  a /a«c/  as  mourning  oy  rejoicing, 
as  calling  for  rain  <^c." 

*  For  the  introduction  of  the  adjunct  uneva.ngclized  he  has  still  less  authority 
than  our  friends  who  supplied  us  so  gratuitously  with  the  adjunct  neu\ 


IQQ  APPENDIX. 


Note  to  page  33. 


This  generation  shall  not  pass  away  till  all  be  fulfilled, 
Luke  21:  32;  Mark  13:  30;  Matth.  24:  34.  Non  prseteribit 
generalio  hasc — non  transibit  generatio  haec  Vulgate.  Jerome 
on  Matth.  24,  34,  gives  the  following  gloss  on  the  word 
generalio.  Omne  genus  hominum  significat,  aut  specialiter 
Judaeorum.  The  Glossa  Ordifiaria  as  it  is  called,  is  as  follows: 
omne  genus  hominum,  vel  gens  Judaeorum  quae  non  deficiet 
donee  veniat  dies  Domini.  De  Lyra,  understands  by  genera- 
tio, congregatio  fidelium,  that  is,  the  church  shall  not  pass 
away — it  shall  be  preserved  until  all  be  fulfilled. 

Jerome,  although  not  the  author  of  the  Latin  version,  called 
the  Vulgate,  must  be  considered  a  competent  expositor  of  the 
meaning  of  the  Latin  word  generatio,  so  far  at  least  as  to  prove 
that  the  word  was  deemed  in  his  day  to  admit  of  either  sense 
he  gives  it. 

Piscator  translates  the  word  (^sisa)  genea  in  the  verses  under 
consideration,  a^las,  Beza  translates  the  word  (jin:t)  sometimes 
gens  and  sometimes  nalio.  Montanus,  Fabricius,  and  Tre- 
mellius  translate  it  gewerafto  in  these  places.  Erasmus  trans- 
lates it  cztas  in  Matth.  and  Luke,  and  ge?ieralio  in  Mark.  The 
word  gens  has  a  broader  import  than  ?iatio.  For  example  we 
may  say  gens  Germanorum  and  7}atio  Saxonum,  but  the  word 
generatio  is  less  restricted  in  its  use  than  either.  We  may  say 
for  example  generatio  avium  as  well  as  generalio  hominum. 
Cicero  uses  the  word  in  the  sense  of  ortus,  procreatio,  and  the 
word  >6v«*  may  be  used  in  the  same  broad  sense.  Its  synonyms 
are  ytm yema-n  p-jo-k riKm*,  and  it  may  be  translated,  if  the  context 
require  it,  by  the  words  progenies,  aetas,  nobilitas,  natura, 
ortus,  familia,  liberi,as  well  as  receive  the  sense  of  (universum 
tempus  humanae  vitae,  or  spatium  triginta  annorum) — a  life 
time.     Plato  has  the  phrase  ^i^yinM  quo  genere  ortus. 

The  word  (sSvo?)  etfuws,  also  frequently  occurs  in  the  N.  T. 
See  Matth.  21:  43;  Luke  7:  5;  John  11:  48,  50,  52  —  18:  35. 
It  may  be  useful  to  refer  to  these  places  in  order  to  observe 
the  different  use  of  the  words  iBvc;  and  yivii..  "The  kingdom  of 
God  shall  be  taken  from  you  (i.  e.  from  your  nation)  and 
given  to  a  (livu)  nation  bringing  forth  the  fruits  thereof"  For 
he  (the  centurion)  loveth  our  (ibvoc)  nation,  and  he  hath  built  us 
a  synagogue."  "If  we  let  him  thus  alone,  &c.  the  Romans 
will  come  and  take  away  both  our  place  and  (eSvo?)  nation." 
"Nor  consider  that  it  is  expedient,  that  one  man  should  die, 
&c.  and  that  the  whole  {i^vo;)  nation  perish  not.  This  he  spake 
not  of  himself,  but,  &c.,  he  prophesied  that  Jesus  should  die  for 


APPENDIX.  161 

that  («9voc)  nation,  and  not  for  that  ((6m)  nation  only,  but  that 
he  should  also  gather  together,"  &c.  "Pilate  answered  thine 
own  (idm)  nation  hath  delivered  thee  to  me,"  &c. 

In  all  these  places  the  word  Sm  is  restricted  to  the  Jewish 
race  {ym=t)  then  living.  The  word  (ymx)  race  in  the  extended 
sense  above  suggested  would  have  been  inapposite.  The 
word  (iQvo;)  can  properly  be  applied  only  to  a  body  of  men 
existing  together  in  a  community.  The  word  (>m*)  race,  will 
admit  of  that  use,  and  also  of  being  applied  to  a  race  of  men 
descended  from  the  same  stock  in  a  dispersed  condition,  as 
the  Jews  have  now  been  for  nearly  eighteen  centuries.  The 
Jews  have  long  ceased  to  be  an  sSw,  but  they  are  still  a  >evs*. 
They  are  indeed  the  people  of  whom  it  was  prophesied,  "Lo! 
the  people  shall  dwell  alone  (nat  iv  tSvi^tv  ou  a-uKKcyt<r6iio-iTsii,  Ixx.) 
and  shall  not  be  reckoned  among  the  nations."  Numb.  23:  9. 
Still  as  their  dispersion  is  temporary,  and  comparatively 
speaking  brief,  and  as  the  purpose  of  God  to  restore  and  build 
them  is  immutable,  they  are  spoken  of  in  prophecy  as  a  nation, 
and  as  a  people  that  shall  not  cease  from  being  a  nation, 
Jeremiah  31:  35. 

Assuming  then  for  a  moment  that  our  Lord  (in  Luke  21:  32 
for  example)  intended  to  declare  that  the  Jewish  race,  should 
be  preserved  through  the  awful  and  long  continued  desolations 
which  should  come  upon  them  during  the  treading  down  of 
Jerusalem  by  the  Gentile  powers,  and  during  their  captivity 
and  dispersion  among  all  nations,  even  until  the  period  allotted 
to  the  existence  of  the  nations  should  elapse,  and  until  the  day 
of  the  appearance  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  a  cloud  with  power 
and  great  glory — assuming  this,  how  apposite  was  the  choice 
of  the  word  ymu.1  Obviously  the  word  s9wc  would  not  serve 
that  purpose,  for  Jerusalem  was  to  be  utterly  destroyed  within 
a  few  years  from  that  time,  and  the  Romans,  as  the  High 
Priest  feared,  were  to  come  and  take  away  their  (sflvoc)  nation, 
and  their  existence  as  a  community  or  body  politic  was  to 
cease.  But  their  (>m«)  race  was  to  remain  distinct  and  dis- 
tinguishable during  a  long  tract  of  time,  as  the  event  has 
proved,  and  that  too  under  circumstances  which  demonstrate 
the  unceasing  watchfulness  of  God  over  them  as  a  race  of 
men. 

But  even  if  the  meaning  of  the  word  were  doubtful — the 
text  in  which  it  stands,  alone  being  considered — events  have 
made  the  meaning  clear.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  foresaw  the 
event,  and  when  speaking  of  what  he  foresaw,  he  must  be 
supposed  to  have  used  the  word  in  a  sense  commensurate  with 
his  sense  of  the  subject  of  which  he  spoke.  When  he  said, 
Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of  nations,  till  their  times 


252  APPENDIX. 

(i.  e.  the  appointed  times  of  their  continuance  or  existence  as 
communities,  Acts  17:  26;  Dan.  2nd  Chapt.)  should  elapse,  he 
foresaw  all  that  has  since  occurred,  and  spoke  of  all  that  has 
occurred  or  shall  occur  until  the  time  of  the  end,  and  the  event 
has  given  a  fulness  of  meaning  to  the  expression  which  the 
Christians  of  the  early  ages  of  the  church  did  not  perceive. 
If  the  infidel  should  reply,  it  is  begging  the  question  to  say 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  foresaw  all  that  has  occurred,  and 
therefore  meant  it,  let  him  explain  how  it  has  happened  that 
in  accordance  with  the  declaration  so  understood,  the  Jewish 
race  without  any  great  physical  peculiarities,  has  been  pre- 
served distinct,  during  so  long  a  period — why  their  desolated 
city  retains  its  name,  in  spile  of  imperial  authority  to  change 
it — why  the  hearts  of  the  Jews,  uninfluenced  by  the  love  of 
home,  and  the  scenes  of  their  early  recollection,  and  all  those 
strictly  natural  feelings,  which  bind  far  the  greater  portion  of 
mankind  to  the  neighbourhood  of  their  nativity  (and  which  in 
the  case  of  those  Jews  who  were  dispersed  by  the  swords  of 
the  Romans,  were  extinguished  only  with  their  lives,)  should 
long  for  and  expect  under  the  most  forbidding  appearances, 
their  own  actual  return  to  their  Zion — to  their  Jerusalem. 
Patriotism  it  cannot  be;  nor  can  it  be  accounted  for  upon  any 
natural  principles;  but  he  who  uttered  the  prophecy,  and  who 
will  order  all  things  so  that  they  shall  conspire  to  its  fulfilment 
at  the  appointed  hour,  has  watched  over  and  preserved  the 
race,  and  with  it  a  feeling  a-kin  to  that  instinct  or  passion, 
which  we  call  patriotism,  in  those  who  have  a  country  and 
have  been  separated  from  it,  but  which  in  no  other  case  has 
been  transmitted,  or  can,  by  any  natural  causes,  be  transmitted 
in  a  dispersed  people,  from  father  to  son  during  a  succession 
of  more  than  fifty  generations.  This  preservation  appeared  to 
Celsus — an  infidel  writer  who  flourished  probably  in  the  reign 
of  Hadrian — so  improbable  that  he  ventured  to  predict  the 
extinction  of  the  Jews  as  a  race,  not  long  after  his  own  time. 
This  writer  had  witnessed  their  second  rebellion  and  its  con- 
sequences to  them  as  a  nation. — But  the  event  has  falsified  the 
presage  of  this  infidel,  and  justified  the  words  of  our  Lord, 
and  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets.  (See  Is.  43:  1-G.) 
Although  the  Jewish  people  have  been  the  object  of  contempt 
and  hatred  to  other  nations  during  so  long  a  time,  they  still 
subsist.  In  fact  they  have  survived  all  sorts  of  oppressions 
and  calamities,  which  must  have  annihilated  them,  or  swal- 
lowed them  up  as  a  deluge,  or  consumed  them  as  a  conflagra- 
tion, and  effaced  every  thing  appertaining  to  them  from  the 
earth,  had  not  an  invisible  and  an  omnipotent  hand  sustained 


APPENDIX.  163 

and  preserved  them  contrary  to  the  ordinary  course  of  human 
things. 

Let  the  people  of  Israel  be  dispersed  and  beaten  by  the 
most  violent  tempests,  they  shall  not  perish. — Let  them  be 
borne  on  the  whirlwind  of  the  wrath  of  God.  like  the  vile  dust 
of  the  earth,  to  the  extremities  of  the  worid,  they  shall  always 
subsist  before  God  as  a  peculiar  people,  and  shall  not  be 
mingled  with  the  nations.  Jeremiah  explains  and  confirms 
this  truth  by  a  comparison  taken  from  the  invariable  laws  of 
Nature.  "Thus  saith  the  Lord,  which  giveth  the  sun  for 
a  light  by  day — the  ordinances  of  the  moon  and  of  the  stars 
for  a  light  by  night,  which  divideth  the  sea,  when  the  vvaves 
thereof  roar, — The  Lord  of  Hosts  is  his  name — if  those  ordi- 
nances depart  from  before  me,  saith  the  Lord,  the  seed  of 
Israel  also  shall  cease  from  being  a  nation  before  me  forever," 
&c.     See  Jeremiah  31:  35  to  the  end. 

Other  nations  may  become  confounded  together  and  be 
dissolved  one  in  another — they  may  lose  their  name,  their 
political  state,  and  all  traces  of  their  origin,  as  in  fact  has  hap- 
pened to  all  the  ancient  nations, — the  Egyptians,  Babylonians, 
Medes,  Persians,  Greeks,  Romans,  Gauls,  Anglo-Saxons  and 
others.  Perhaps  few,  very  few  of  the  families  which  for- 
merly composed  those  nations,  have  continued  to  propagate 
themselves  unmixed  to  our  times, — certainly  there  is  not  one 
family,  nor  even  an  individual  among  us,  who  can  ascend,  by 
a  well  authenticated  pedigree,  back  to  the  times  of  those 
national  bodies,  politic,  of  which  his  ancestors  were  members 
— that  is  to  say,  through  a  descent  of  eighteen  or  twenty 
centuries. 

The  Jews  on  the  contrary,  though  they  have  been  so  long 
dispersed  among  the  nations,  subsist  without  commingling 
with  them.  They  can  ascend  by  an  incontestable  pedigree  to 
the  parent  stock.  The  registers  of  their  tribes  may  have 
perished,  but  the  Israelites,  scattered  through  all  places  of  the 
earth,  know  well  that  they  have  all  descended  from  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  none  can  with  reason  dispute  their  claim, 
"Fear  thou  not,  0  Jacob  my  servant,  saith  the  Lord,  for  I  am 
with  thee;  for  I  will  make  a  full  end  of  all  the  nations  whither 
I  have  driven  thee;  but  I  will  not  make  a  full  end  of  thee,  but 
correct  thee  in  measure;  yet  will  I  not  leave  thee  wholly 
unpunished."     Jer.  46:28. 

But  to  return  to  the  passage  in  question:  The  expression, 
"This  generation  shall  not  pass  away,"  &c.  is  a  prophecy. 
As  if  our  Lord  had  said — The  enemies  of  the  Jews  shall 
encompass  this  city  and  destroy  it,  and  tread  it  down,  during 
the  whole  period  of  their  existence  as  nations,  although  the 


164  APPENDIX. 

Jews  themselves  shall  fall  by  the  edge  of  the  sword  and  be 
carried  away  captives,  not  into  one  nation  only,  as  formerly 
they  were  to  Babylon,  but  into  all  nations, — although  evils 
and  calamities  shall  come  upon  them  which  would  exterminate 
any  other  nation,  and  which,  according  to  the  common  course 
of  human  things,  would  exterminate  tlie  race  of  the  Jews,  yet 
shall  they  be  preserved  through  them  all, — this  race  shall  not 
pass  away — until  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come  again  in  a  cloud 
with  power  and  great  glory. 

One  observation  more:  If  these  views  are  correct,  the  papal 
idea  of  embracing  all  nations  and  kindreds  (and  the  Jews 
among  the  rest)  in  their  communion,  is  founded  on  a  mistaken 
view  of  God's  purposes  in  relation  to  the  Jews. — God's  mercy 
has  been  shown  to  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  by  turns,  Rom.  11: 
30,  31. — It  was  continued  to  the  Jews  from  Abraham,  till 
they  rejected  and  crucified  the  Lord  of  glory,  and  wrath  then 
came  upon  them,  which  will  continue  (e;? Ttx^  1  Thess.  2:  16,) 
until  the  end  of  this  dispensation.  Paul's  hope  in  preaching 
the  gospel  to  his  kindred,  was,  that  he  might  jg-am  some  of  them, 
Rom.  11:  14.  He  did  not  expect  their  universal  conversion 
and  amalgamation  with  the  Gentiles  in  the  Christian  Church, 
Rom.  11:  25.  The  papal  church  cannot  expect  to  survive  the 
times  of  the  Gentiles,  and  yet  the  blindness  of  the  Jews  as  a 
nation,  will  continue  during  the  times  of  the  Gentiles,  and  as 
long  as  Jerusalem  siiall  be  tiodden  down  by  them.  The  per- 
secutions, therefore,  which  that  people  have  suffered  from 
the  Roman  church  on  account  of  their  religion,  were  the  off- 
spring of  false  theology,  as  well  as  of  pride  and  cruelty,  and 
that  church  has  been  a  co-worker  with  pagan  Rome,  with  the 
Saracens  and  the  Turks,  in  executing  those  judgments  which 
the  Lord  predicted  should  come  upon  them  and  continue  until 
he  should  come  a  second  time  for  their  deliverance. 

The  Church  of  Rome  has  always  regarded  the  Jews  as 
heretics,  and  canons  of  different  councils  forbade  Christians  to 
eat  with  them,  or  have  any  dealings  with  them  on  pain  of 
excommunication.*  The  Inquisition  expelled  800,000  Jews 
from  Spain  during  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and 
those  persecuted  people  despairing  of  finding  an  asylum  in 
Catholic  Europe,  took  refuge  in  the  Ottoman  Empire. 
Emanuel,  King  of  Portugal,  required  that  Jewish  children 
under  14  years  of  age,  should  be  separated  from  their  parents 
and  forced  to  adopt  the  Roman  Catholic  Religion.  Our  Lord, 
when  he  uttered  the  prophesy  in  question,  foresaw  all  these 

*  The  civil  law,  which  ia  very  many  places  bears  the  marks  of  Papal  influ- 
ence, does  not  allow  Jews  to  be  produced  as  witnesses  against  the  orthodox. 
Judai  et  heretici  contra  orthodoxos  produci  injudicio  testes  ncqueunt. 


APPENDIX.  165 

things,  yet  he  declared  that  the  race  should  be  preserved  until 
this  vast  fabric  of  political  and  ecclesiastical  tyranny  should  be 
destroyed  by  the  brightness  of  his  coming. 


Note  to  page  39. 

When  the  prophets  speak  of  the  earth,  and  sometimes  when 
they  speak  of  the  world,  we  must  understand  them  to  intend 
merely  the  territories  of  the  four  monarchies, — or  the  empire 
symbolized  by  the  statue  described  in  the  2nd  chap,  of  the 
prophet  Daniel.  This  has  been  called  tiie  prophetic  earth,  or 
world,  which  is  nothing  more  than  such  parts  of  the  world  as 
were  known  by  the  ancients.  It  is  important  to  observe  that 
the  empires  of  the  monarchies  represented  in  the  statue,  are  in 
an  important  sense  but  one  empire,  which  was  commenced  by 
the  king  of  Babylon,  who  was  represented  by  the  head  of  the 
statue, — continued  by  the  Persian  and  JNIedes,  represented  by 
the  arms  and  the  breast  of  the  same  statue,  and  by  the  Grecian 
kings,  who  were  represented  by  the  belly  and  the  tbighs,  and 
completed  by  the  Latin  kings,  who  were  represented  by  the 
legs  and  the  feet  of  the  image.  These  different  kings  and 
kingdoms  being  represented  by  the  component  parts  of  a 
human  body  of  gigantic  size,  may  be  considered  together  as 
one  form,  or  as  forming  one  whole  kingdom;  because  these 
several  parts  are  correlative,  and  the  existence  of  one  part 
implies  the  coexistence  and  connexion  of  the  other  parts. 
Were  we  to  see  the  head  for  example  to  rise  into  view,  we 
should  expect  the  other  parts  to  be  in  their  proper  place, 
though  concealed  at  the  moment  from  our  observation. 

From  this  mode  of  considering  these  four  kingdoms  {viz. 
the  Babylonian,  the  Medo-Persian,  the  Grecian  and  the  Ro- 
man)— as  component  parts  of  one  larger  kingdom,  it  results 
that  both  in  the  Old  and  in  the  New  Testaments,  Rome  (which 
is  represented  by  the  legs  and  feet  of  the  image)  is  called 
Babylon,  (which  is  the  head  of  it:)  Because,  in  the  mind  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  which  embraces,  under  one  glance,  the  whole 
series  of  the  times  of  the  kingdoms  represented  in  the  image, 
the  empire  of  Babylon  was  but  the  beginning  of  the  Roman 
empire,  as  the  head  was  but  the  upper  part  of  the  image,  while 
the  Roman  empire  in  its  turn  was  nothing  else  but  Babylon  in 
its  development,  as  the  legs  and  feet  were  but  the  completion 
of  the  image.     See  Rev.  chaps.  17  and  18. 

This  very  simple  view  of  the  subject  supplies  a  reason  for 
giving  to  Rome  the  name  of  Babylon*  mysticall3\ 

*  Babylon  is  mentioned  twelve  times  in  the  N.  T.  viz;  four  times  by  Matth. 
VOL.  III. —  39 


IQQ  APPENDIX. 

Some  persons  have  thought  that  the  special  territory  of  each 
of  the  four  monarchies,  is  that  which  it  possessed  at  the 
moment  when  Jerusalem  or  the  people  of  God  became  subject 
to  them  respectively, — in  other  words,  that  these  kingdoms 
successively  entered  into  and  became  a  part  of  the  image,  at 
the  time  when  the  Jewish  people  became  subject  to  them 
respectively.  So  that  in  order  to  determine  the  geographical 
extent  of  each  kingdom  as  viewed  in  prophec}-,  we  must 
ascertain  its  territorial  limits  at  and  before  the  submission  or 
subjugation  of  the  Jews  to  it. 

In  order  to  determine  the  extent  of  the  kingdom  of  Baby- 
Ion,  according  to  this  principle,  vve  must  exclude  from  its 
ultimate  extent,  Armenia,  Asia  Minor,  Persia,  Tyre,  Egypt, 
Africa  and  Spain,  (a  part  of  which  Nebuchadnezzar  is  said  to 
have  conquered)  because  all  these  conquests  were  preceded  by 
the  taking  of  Jerusalem. 

So  in  determining  the  extent  of  the  Medo-Persian  kingdom, 
we  must  exclude  from  its  greatest  extent,  Egypt  and  Asia 
Minor. 

On  this  principle,  the  Grecian  kingdom  will  be  composed  of 
all  Greece,  all  Asia  Minor,  all  Syria,  and  the  whole  of  Egypt; 

1:  11,  12,  17 — once  by  Stephen  the  proto-martyr,  Acts  7:  43,  in  which  places 
we  are  to  understand  the  word  literally — once  by  Peter  in  his  salutations, 
1  Epist.5:  13,  where  perhaps  we  should  understand  the  word  literally,  although 
the  Romanists  say  that  Rome  here  is  meant — and  six  times  by  John  in  Rev. 
14:  8—16:  19—17:  5—18:  2, 10,  21.  Isaiah  (in  chaps.  13th  and  14th)  contains  a 
prophecy  of  the  destruction  of  Babylon,  which  was  uttered  about  130  years 
before  the  Jews  were  carried  into  captivity,  and  about  200  years  before  the 
destruction  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus.  Isaiah  does  not  foretell  the  captivity  of  the 
Jews,  but  their  deliverance  only.  Was  not  this  omission  designed  to  give  the 
prophecy  a  double  aspectl  Is  it  not  in  one  of  its  aspects  a  prophecy  of  things 
yet  to  come  on  the  mystical  Babylonl — Observe  the  abruptness  with  which 
John  introduces  the  name  of  Babylon  into  the  Revelation.  The  first  t/iing 
he  says  of  it  is,  "Babylon  is  fallen — is  fallen,"  Etti^iv  tTnn  Bot^ukm  »  vrcxtc  » 
,Ms>ax». — John  informs  us,  that  he  saw  six  angels  appearing  in  succession. 
The  first  had  the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach  to  all  the  dwellers  of  the  earth — 
His  message  was,  "fear  God  and  give  glory  to  Him;  for  the  hour  (season, 
period  ig*)  of  his  judgment  is  come."  The  second  angel  followed,  saying 
"Babylon,  the  city,  the  great  one,  is  fallen,  is  fallen."  He  had  told  us  nothing 
of  Babylon  before,  nor  what  evil  it  had  done,  but  assuming  its  existence,  he 
announces  its  fall,  and  then  assigns  the  reason,  "because  she  had  made  all 
nations  (nol  the  Jews)  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  her  fornication," 
Rev.  14:  8.  The  next  time  he  mentions  it,  is  immediately  after  the  seventh 
vial  was  poured  in  the  air.  This  was  followed  by  great  commotions,  "the  great 
city  was  divided  into  three  parts — the  cities  of  the  nations  fell,  and  great 
Babylon  came  in  remembrance  before  God,  to  give  her  the  cup  of  the  wine  of 
the  fierceness  of  his  wrath."  How  intense  this  expressit)n!  The  next  time  he 
mentions  Babylon,  he  gives  us  her  character.  It  is  mystery  Babylon  the  great, 
the  mother  of  harlots  and  abominations  of  the  earth.  In  chap.  18  he  mentions 
Babylon  as  fallen,  (ver.  2)  as  the  great  city — that  mighty  city  suddenly  brought 
to  judgment,  {vew  10)  and  thrown  down  as  a  great  millstone  is  cast  into  the 
sea,  (ver.  21.)    This  symbolical  act,  marks  her  utter  and  hopeless  ruin. 


APPENDIX.  167 

as  Alexander  had  conquered  all  these  countries,  before  he 
became  master  of  Jerusalem. 

Coming  now  to  the  fourth,  or  the  Roman  kingdom,  this 
principle  requires  us  to  exclude  from  it  England,  Holland  and 
lower  Germany,  because  neither  of  these  countries  was  subdued 
by  the  Romans,  until  after  they  had  conquered  the  Jews.  In 
the  year  B.  C.  65,  Pompey  destroyed  the  kingdom  of  Syria. 
In  63  B.  C.  the  same  Roman  general  took  Jerusalem  by 
assault:  In  the  year  B.  C.  30,  Augustus  Caesar  destroyed  the 
Greek  kingdom  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Egypt,  and  fully  esta- 
blished his  authority  in  Jerusalem.  At  the  accession  of 
Augustus  Caesar,  the  limits  of  the  Roman  Empire  were  said  to 
be,  the  river  Danube  on  the  North — the  Rhine  on  the  East — 
the  Atlantic  ocean  on  the  West,  and  Mount  Atlas  in  Africa  on 
the  South.  Those  who  adopt  this  principle,  look  for  the  ten 
kingdoms  within  the  geographical  limits  thus  determined,  and 
of  course  they  exclude  Britain,  Holland,  Prussia  and  Russia. 

In  confirmation  of  this  principle,  it  is  said  that  the  geogra- 
phy or  particular  territory  of  each  of  the  four  monarchies, 
may  be  determined  by  the  language  peculiar  to  each.  Thus 
the  Chaldean  language  continued  to  be  spoken  between  the 
Euphrates  and  Tigris,  and  towards  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates 
— the  Persian  to  the  East  of  the  Tigris — the  Greek  throughout 
Egypt,  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  Thrace,  Macedonia  as  far  as  the 
Danube,  and  the  Mountains  of  Illyricum:  and  finally  the 
Latin  language  prevailed  in  Africa  as  far  as  to  Mount  Atlas,  in 
Europe  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and  the  whole  right  bank 
of  the  Danube  to  the  Mediterranean  sea,  and  to  the  ocean.  The 
French,  Italian,  Spanish  and  Portuguese  languages,  are  little 
more  than  so  many  diflferent  corruptions  of  the  Latin,  and  the 
religious  worship  of  all  these  countries  is  performed  in  Latin 
by  the  Roman  Catholics.  They  pray,  and  sing,  and  say  mass 
in  Latin,  and  the  Pope  employs  the  Latin  language  in  his 
letters  and  public  decrees. 

Note  to  pages  45  to  47. 

Peter  (in  3  Epist.  3:  6)  speaks  of  the  earth  as  it  existed 
before  the  flood,  as  the  world  which  then  was,  (a  TOTmoa-y.^^.)  In 
ver.  7  he  speaks  of  the  earth  as  it  has  existed  since  the  flood, 
as  the  heavens  and  the  earth  which  are  now,  (o/Jsvt/v  oi/gavo*  xa/ w^n.) 
In  ver.  13th  he  declares  his  expectation  of  new  heavens  and  a 
new  earth,  {k-j.ivoij;  ovgAvcv;  nAiym  namv.)  Thus  in  three  verses  (6, 
7,  13,)  this  apostle  speaks  of  three  worlds,  the  first  two  of 
which  were  only  different  organizations  or  modifications  of 
this  same  planet. 


Jgg  APPENDIX. 

The  Apostle  Paul  in  Heb.  2:  5,  speaks  of  the  world  to  come, 
which  is  not  to  be  put  in  subjection  unto  angels  as  the  present 
world  is,  Heb.  1:  14.  The  word  (oix-ovjuivnv)  which  is  here 
translated  world,  is  never  used  in  the  N.  T.  or  elsewhere  to 
signify  heaven.  (See  Luke  4:  5 — 2:  1 — 21:  26.  Matth.  24: 
14.  Acts  11:28 — 17:6,31 — 19:27—24:5.  Rom.  10:18. 
Heb.  1:  6—2:  5.  Rev.  3:  10 — 12:  9—16:  14,  which  are  all  the 
places  in  which  it  occurs.)  The  word  in  fact  is  a  participle  of 
the  feminine  gender,  and  the  word  ynv  is  to  be  supplied,  (quasi 
Tuvynv  oix-otifAmv.)  Examples  of  the  use  of  this  word  are  the 
following:  The  devil  shewed  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world.  Csesar  decreed  that  all  the  world  shotdd  be  taxed,  &c. 
See  the  places  referred  to.  Paul  then  refers  to  an  habitable 
earth*  to  come,  or  some  future  condition  of  this  planet  which 
shall  differ  in  the  same  sense,  though  it  may  be  in  a  far  greater 
degree,  from  the  world  that  now  is — or  the  habitable  earth  in 
its  present  condition,  as  the  world  that  now  is,  differs  from  the 
world  that  was  before  the  flood. 

We  have  then,  three  zcorlds  {x.ocyfxoi  if  a  plural  is  allowable  in 
such  a  connexion)  spoken  of  in  scripture  as  existing  on  this 
planet:  viz.  The  world  before  the  flood — the  world  which 
now  is — the  habitable  earth  to  come,  according  to  Paul's 
expression,  or  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth,  according  to 
Peter's.  It  may  be  observed  too,  that  the  word  [icoafAOi  trans- 
lated) world  is  derived  from  noc-fxice,  to  adorn,  organize  or  reduce 
to  order,  garnish.  (See  Matth.  25:  7—12:  44.  1  Tim.  2:  9. 
1  Pet.  3:  3,  y-ocri^^io?  bene  compositus,  honestus,  gravis.)  This 
word  (jcoiT^sc)  icorld,  therefore,  is  adapted  to  express  the  idea  of 
a  certain  physical  or  organized  condition  of  the  planet,  which 
in  some  sort  is  accidental,  rather  than  essential;  and  which 
may  pass  away  or  be  changed,  while  the  planet  as  a  body 
remains. — This  may  explain  the  expression  of  Paul  in  1  Cor. 
7:  31,  ^^^^yuro  o-;in/ui:t  Tau noa-juou  the  fashiou  of  the  world — that  is 
its  entire  condition  as  an  organized  body  considered  as  existing 
in  a  certain  form  or  physical  condition — passeth  away.  The 
expression  to  o-x^hm'^  th^  o-x.nv>i;  Tra^ayu  means  that  the  scene  changes 
and  presents  a  new  appearance;  and  Grotius  says  the  expres- 
sion of  the  apostle  is  borrowed  from  the  theatre.  This 
expression  is  an  example  of  the  present  tense  used  for  the 
future.  The  apostle  means  that  the  scheme  or  physical  condi- 
tion of  the  world  is  destined  to  an  entire  change.      Yet  accord- 

*  Owen  obsei'TCS  upon  this  expression,  that  it  denotes  "a  certain  state  and 
condition  of  things  in  this  world;  lor  the  apostle  does  not  treat  directly  con- 
cerning heaven,"  and  to  call  heaven,  the  world  to  come  because  we  ai^e  to  go 
info  it,  is  (said  Beza)  "rather  harsh." 


APPENDIX.  169 

ing  to  this  same  apostle,  it  is  to  be  followed  by  a  new 
habitable  earth,  another  world,  Heb.  2:  5. 

Again,  the  scriptures  teach  that  each  of  these  three  great 
periods  (or  worlds)  is  to  be  consummated  by  a  great  judgment, 
involving  the  ruin  of  the  wicked.  The  first,  or  antediluvian 
world  was  consummated,  as  we  know,  by  a  universal  deluge, 
which  destroyed  the  race,  except  eight  persons.  The  world 
to  come,  or  the  future  habitable  earth,  will  be  consummated  by 
the  general  resurrection,  and  the  last  judgment  before  the 
great  white  throne,  and  the  final  separation  of  the  righteous 
and  the  wicked,  (Rev.  20:  11-15.)  And  the  world  which 
now  is,  also  will  be  terminated  by  a  fearful  judgment,  though 
not  such  as  will  destroy  the  entire  race.  See  Haggai2:  21,22. 
Other  prophecies  which  relate  to  this  intermediary  judgment 
are,  Jer.  chap.  30.  Joel  chap.  2.  Zeph.  chap.  1.  2  Pet.  3 
chap.  2Thess.  1:  1-7.  Is.  30:  27,  30— 66: 12,  16— 13:  5-13 
— 24:  1-6,  16,22 — 34:  1-8.  The  calamities  described  in  such 
scriptures  as  these,  (the  slain  of  the  Lord  shall  be  many — there 
shall  hQ  feio  me7i  left,  &c.  &c.)  do  not  comport  with  the  idea  of 
the  final  judgment,  when  all  the  dead  shall  be  raised  to  life,  and 
after  being  judged,  shall  be  sent  away  to  everlasting  punish- 
ment. Hence  it  is,  that  we  expect  these  scriptures  will  be 
fulfilled,  at  the  close  of  this  dispensation,  and  will  precede,  in 
the  order  of  occurrence,  the  world  to  come,  whereof  Paul 
speaks  in  Heb.  2:  5. 

These  observations  prepare  the  way  for  considering  the 
answer  of  our  Lord  to  Pilate,  recorded  in  John  IS:  36.  My 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  {i)(,Tov  Mo-y.m  toutov.)  Our  Lord 
appeared  in  the  flesh  during  the  second  of  the  worlds  whei'eof 
we  have  spoken — in  the  world  that  now  is,  whose  scheme  or 
fashion  is  destined  to  pass  away.  When,  therefore,  he  said  to 
Pilate  "my  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,"  he  affirmed  that  he 
should  establish  no  outward  visible  kingdom  on  the  earth  in 
its  present  condition.  But  can  it  be  inferred  from  what  he 
said,  that  he  will  not  establish  an  outward  and  visible  kingdom 
with  power,  on  the  earth  hereafter,  when,  by  his  almighty 
energies,  he  shall  have  transformed  it  into  another  and  very 
different  physical  condition — in  fact  into  another  world!  Sin 
and  Satan  have  marred  this  portion  of  the  creation  of  God; 
and  God  has  not  only  withdrawn  his  glory  from  it,  but  has  let 
his  curse  fall  and  rest  upon  it  and  its  inhabitants.  "Never- 
theless, we,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness,"  2  Pet.  3: 
13.  Then  Satan  shall  be  bound — the  curse  shall  be  removed 
— briars  and  thorns, — a  part  of  the  curse,  shall  no  more  grow 
— the  favour  of  God  shall  return — the  earth. shall  no  more 


170  APPENDIX. 

withhold  her  increase  (Ezek.  24:  27.  Hosea  2:  21,  22),  but 
its  productions,  like  the  widow's  pittance  of  meal  and  oil,  shall 
multiply  without  stint,  and  yield  a  supply  adequate  to  the 
wants  of  all  its  dwellers. 

Now,  if  we  may  suppose  that  Paul  in  Heb.  2:  5  had  respect 
to  a  future  condition  of  this  earth,  which  shall  be  free  from  the 
curse, — if  Peter  also,  had  respect  to  the  same  condition,  when 
he  spoke  of  the  ?iew  earth,  wherein  dwellelh  righteousness, 
would  it  not  be  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word  another  world, 
a  71670  world,  though  existing  upon  the  same  material  sphere, 
preserving  the  same  relative  position  in  the  vast  fabric  of  the 
creation?  And  did  not  our  Lord  mean  to  declare  merely, 
that  his  earthly,  outward,  visible  kingdom  would  not  co-exist 
with  this  accursed  condition  of  the  earth? — that  his  kingdom 
would  commence  in  the  utter  expulsion  of  Satan  and  the  curse 
from  the  world,  and  the  restitution  of  all  things  to  perhaps  a 
greater  beauty  and  glory  than  that  which  existed  before  the 
fall  of  man  and  the  curse — in  a  TraTnyymcia.  or  generation  of  things 
anew?  If  such  was  the  meaning  of  our  Lord's  reply  to  Pilate, 
Caesar  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  earthly  kingdom  of  Christ, 
so  long  as  Satan  should  be  permitted  to  retain  his  usurpation 
over  the  world.  But  in  the  millenary  state,  when  all  things 
shall  be  made  anew,  who  can  say  that  all  dominions  will  not 
serve  and  obey  the  outward,  visible  dominion  of  the  Lord 
Christ?  The  work  of  recreating,  regenerating,  restoring  all 
things  to  their  primeval  beauty  and  glory  will  not  be  done,  for 
the  sake  of  the  great  enemy  of  God  and  man,  but  for  the  sake 
of  him  whose  right  they  are. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  therefore,  has  anticipated  the 
period  of  an  oecumenical  see,  and  of  a  central  worship  by  the 
whole  of  this  present  dispensation.  That  church  has  also — 
while  denying  to  the  Church  of  Christ,  or  its  head,  any 
temporal  or  earthly  power — in  fact  exercised  for  centuries  a 
controlling  influence  in  the  affairs  of  this  world.  If  the  forego- 
ing remarks  are  well  founded,  this  too  is  an  anticipation  of  an 
attribute,  which  really  belongs  to  the  Church  of  Christ,  but 
which  our  Lord  declared  should  not  be  put  in  exercise  during 
the  present  condition  of  things.  But  when  the  angel,  who  has 
the  key  of  the  abyss  shall  descend,  and  lay  hold  of  the  dragon, 
that  old  serpent,  the  Devil  and  Satan,  and  bind  him  and  cast 
him  into  the  abyss,  and  set  a  seal  upon  him,  that  he  shall 
deceive  the  nations  no  more,"  (Rom.  20:  1-3)  then  the  king- 
dom and  dominion  and  greatness  of  the  kingdom  under  the 
whole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the  people  of  the  Saints  of  the 
Most  High,  Dan.  7:  27.  And  they  will  exercise  the  power  of 
the  kingdom  over  earthly  things  openly  and  confessedly,  and 
by  direct  and  positive  claim  under  their  adorable  Head. 


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